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STORIES 



Three Americas 



THEIR DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

BY 

Eunice C. Corbett and Anna Content. 



Vo^"^ 



I hear the tread of pioneers 

Of nations yet to be, 
The first low wash of waves, where so on 

Shall roll a human sea. _^^ — ' 

The rudiments of empire here/ \ > COt^i''R/GH/-^''Vr 
Are plastic yet and warm; I ii,, _^ ' %-> 

The chaos of a mighty world I iUl J^F) IRPf) /^ 
Is rounding into form ! \ - ' ■ « n 

-WhittY^.-. „,, 



/h 



CHICAGO: 

A. FLANAGAN, PUBLISHER. 

1890. 



v.. V. 



■p 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S90, 

By a. FLANAGAN, 

In the Ofi6ce of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



The Story of Leif the Lucky, 986—1009, 

How Columbus Found a New World, 1492, 

The Fate of Columbus, 1493—1506, 

The People th t Lived in the New World, 

The Spanish Cavaliers, 1499 — 1512, 

The Finding of a New Ocean, 1509—1517, 

The First Voyage Round the World, 1498 — 1522 

The Fountain of Youth, 1512, 

The First Search for the North wtsT Passage, 1498 — 1523, 

How THE Spaniards Entered Mexico, 1519 — 1520, 

How Mexico was Conquered, 1520 — 1521, 

The Search for the Land of Gold, 1524—1530, 

The Conquest of Peru, the Land of Gold, 1530 — 1533, 

The Exploits of Alvarado, 1523 — 1541, . 

The Fate of the Pizarros, 1533—1541, . 

The Strange Story of Cabez v de Veca, 1528 — 1535, 

The Discovery of a Great River, 1536—1541, 

The Seven Cities of Cibola, 1536 — 1542, 

The Story of Las Casas, 1524—1566, 

The Founding of New France, 1524—1635, . 

The Cruise of the Golden Hind, 1572—1580, 

English Explokels in the New World, 1579 — 1586, 

The Lost Colony of Roanoke, 1587—1618, 

The Adventures of Captain John Smith, 1606—1608, 

The Story of the Lady Rebecca, 1608 — 1631, 

The Voyages of Henry Hudson, 1607 — 1611, . 

The Coming of the Pilgrims, 1620, 

The St ry of Peter the Headstrong, 1641—1664, 

The New Discovery of the Mississippi, 1648 167."), 

The Trials of the Chevalier La Salle, 1667—1684, 

The Fate cf La Salle's Colony, 1684—1687, 

The Quakers and William Penn, 1674 — 1682, 

The Indians and the Early C lonists. 

The Colonies of Calvert and Oglethorpe, 1629—1633 ; 1728—1743 



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188 

193 

197 




THE STORY OF LEIF THE LUCKY 

986—1009. 

F you look at the map of the world in your geographies, 
you will see an island just on the line between the eastern 
and i^vestern hemispheres. On your map of Europe you 
can see that it is quite a large island. Its name is Iceland, 
and you will learn from your geographies that this name 
well describes it, for it is covered with ice and snow during 
the greater part of tlie year. You will learn, too, that there 
are enormous volcanoes on the island, that the people, though poor, 
are by no means ignorant, but have good schools and live in com- 
fortable homes sheltered from the cold diiring the long winter, and 
that in the short summer they raise crrn and vegetables, and these, 
with the abundance of fish which they obtain from the many bays 
and inlets of the sea on the island coast, give them plenty of food 
to live on. You will also read in your history that many years ago, 
the people of Iceland were more daring and full of adventure than 
they now are, and that they built large ships that sailed far over the 
sea and made discoveries in distant lands. - . 

Perhaps you have read in your English histories, of the Sea-kings 
of the North, ns they were called, pirate captains of large vessels, 
who invaded England at one time and made themselves very 
terrible to the people by their cruelties. Some of these pirate 
captains came from Denmark, the country which juts out into the 
water between the Baltic and the North Seas, others were from 
Norway ; all of them belonged to the same race, and all were daring 
sailors, and fierce and cruel. A band of these sea voyagers from 
Norway first settled Iceland in the ninth century, and they 
brought thither loads of pine trees from the forests of Norway, and 
built more ships and larger ships, and sailed still further toward 
the west in search of more discoveries. One summer day, one of 



2 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

these captains (called Eric'the Red because of the color of his hair), 
when sailing west, came in sight of a large country all covered with 
grass. This was about the year 892. Captain Eric immediately 
claimed the country as belonging to him, — this was a way these 
captains had ! — and he landed on it and gave it the name of Green- 
land. Then he went back to Iceland and persuaded a good many 
people to go with him and make homes in the new country. To 
be sure, in spite of the green grass that covered its coasts during 
the summer time, it was a country of fogs, and of long winter 
days, but these people were used to cold weather and fogs in 
Iceland and Norway, and they built their homes in the new 
country cheerfally enough, and soon had there a thriving colony. 
After some years, stories came to them concerning a new land of 
trees, of fertile valleys and flower-covered hills, a land of summer 
days and sunny, cloudless skies. Why did they not all hasten to 
make their homes in this new, beautiful land? Well, we may 
suppose that many of them did not believe there was such a land, 
and others said "What if there is ? we are well enough off here ; why 
should we go journeying across the stormy seas again ? " You see 
they had grown used to cold and fogs, and thought that the clear 
skies of the new land would make them homesick, as they probably 
would. 

For the stories of a new land were true. In the year 986, a 
young man named Biorn, whose father, Herjulf, had settled in 
Greenland, set sail in a vessel to join him, but met strong winds 
from the north, which drove him upon the coast of a country to 
the south. This country had many small hills which were covered 
with a thick growth of forest trees. Biorn knew, from what his 
father had written him, that there were no forest trees in Greenland, 
and that its hills were high mountains, covered with snow ; so he 
felt sure that this was no part of Greenland. And it was Greenland 
that he wanted to see, where his father and friends were, and so he 
took little notice of the fine trees of the new country. As soon 
as the winds would let him, he set sail again, and by aid of such 
charts as he may have had, and the north star when it could be 
seen — for the mariner's compass, that safe guide for sailors over the 
trackless seas, was not yet known — he at last reached the settlement 



THE SrORY OF LEIF THE LUCKY. 



of his father and friends in Greenland. They were very glad to see 
him, we may suppose, and very much interested in the story that he 
had to tell of his delayed voyage. And though he did not want to 
see the forest country again, he said, being too well pleased to be in 
the company of his good friends in Greenland — there were others 
who were fired with ambition to visit the new lands, and explore 
their wonders for themselves. These carried back the story to 
Iceland, and found there 
some who believed and 
some who doubted. And 
sailors said: "What does 
Leif the Lucky say about 
it? Leif is your man. If 
he will go in search of the 
new lands, we will go with 
him. It is safe sailing, 
we find, with Leif the 

Lucky ! " 

Leif the Lucky was 

the son of Eric the Red, 

who had discovered Green- 
land, and was therefore 

called Leif Erickson. He 

probably had red hair and 

a ruddy complexion as his 

father had, and we are told 

that he was " large and 

stout, and noble to see ; a 

wise man also, and made 

to do all things." He 

feared no perils by land or sea. Perhaps it was of him that the old 

Norse ballad said ; — 

" He scorns to rest 'neath the smoky rafter. 

He plows with his boat the roaring deep ; 
The billows boil, and the storm howls after — 
But the tempest is only a thing of laughter— 
The sea-king loves it better than sleep ! " 




NORSE SEA-KING OF THE IITH CENTURY. 



4 STOKIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

He was called Leif the Lucky, because he had come safely 
through many dangers. And the sailors believed that no matter 
how rough the storm, the boat that carried Leif would always ride 
through it, and come into port. 

As might have been expected, Captain Leif was ready for a 
voyasje to the new land covered with forest, as soon as he heard of it. 
As no trees grew in Iceland or Greenland, an abundance of timber 
meant wealth to the sea-kings who might find it. Might there 
not be precious woods there too, such as could be sold to the 
kings of Europe for great weight of gold; and strong wood for 
masts of ships, and other uses ? So he said, " Who will go with me 
to try the treasures of this new land, who will go with Leif the 
Lucky?" • 

Thirty five strong men, sailors true and tried, came forward 
to take part in the voyage. This may seem to us a small ' number, 
but it was enough to fully man one ship, and Leif the Lucky was 
satisfied. So they set sail. It is probable that they went by Green- 
land, to get full information from Biorn and his men concerning the 
strange land. It must have been in the summer that the voyage 
was undertaken, as then only are the northern seas free from ice; 
and the date was somewhat uncertain, but it was probably the 
year 1000. 

The first land which Captain Leif and his sailors saw was a 
land of icy mountains, with a plain between the mountains and 
the sea, covered with fl >. t stones. This is supposed to have been the 
shore of Newfoundland. Leif called it Helluland, which in Norse 
tongue means "land of flat stones." After this he sailed farther to 
the southward, and reached a level country covered with trees, 
which he named Markland or Woodland. It is thought that this 
was the coast of Nova Scotia. Here the sailors landed and explored 
the country for a day or two, but, as the weather was fine. Captain 
Leif was impatient to go further southward again and they all 
returned to the ship. We will tell their next discovery in the very 
words of the book in which the school children of Iceland read the 
story of Leif Erickson. Of course these words have been changed 
from Icelandic to English, or else you could nob understand them. 
And this is what they say : 



THE STORY OF LEIP THE LUCKY. 5 

" Then they sailed on the high sea, having a northeast wind, and 
were two days at sea before they saw land. They steered toward 
it and touched the island lying before the north part of the land. 
When they went on land they surveyed it, for by good fortune 
the weather was serene. They found the grass sprinkled with dew, 
and it happened by chance that they touched the dew with their 
hands, and carried them to their mouths and perceived that it 
had a sweet taste which they had not before noticed. Then 
they returned to the ship and sailed through a bay lying between 
the island and a tongue of land running toward the north. Steering 
a course to the west shore, they passed the tongue of land. Here 
when the tide ebbed there were very narrow shoals. When the ship 
got aground there were shallows of great extent between the 
vessel and the receded sea. So great was the desire of the men to 
go on land that they were unwilling to stay on board until the 
returning tide floated the ship. They went ashore at a place where a 
river flowed out from a lake. When the tide floated the ship, they 
took the boat and rowed to the vessel and brought her into the 
river and then into the lake. Here they anchored, carried the 
luggage from the ships and built dwellings. Afterwards they held 
a consultation and resolved to remain at this place during the 
winter. They erected large buildings. There were not only many 
salmon in the river but also in the lake, and of a larger size than 
they had before seen. So great was the fertility of the soil that they 
were led to believe that cattle would not be in want of food during 
winter, or that wintry coldness would prevail or the grass wither 
much." 

Now take your maps and find where Captain Leif and his men 
landed, if you can. You will find, no doubt, that the description 
fits most closely to Narragansett bay and its surrounding country. 
The island is Con anient. The lake out of which the river ran is 
Mt. Hope bay. 

When the Norsemen had built their homes. Captain Leif 
said : " Now let our men be divided into two parts, that we may 
explore the land ; one part to stay at home each day and the other 
to go about to see the land, but let them go no further than they can 
return each evening." And this they did and Captain Leif took 



6 THE STORY OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

hig turn with them, going out one day and staying home the next. 
One evening, one of the men did not return with the others. 
This was a German named Tyrker. He had once been taken as a 
prisoner of war, but living in Iceland, had become one of Captain 
Leif s groat friends. The captain, therefore, reproved the others for 
letting him get lost and made ready to go with twelve men in 
search of him. Going a little way in the woods they met him 
coming. 

" Why wast thou so late, my friend ? " said Captain Leif. 

The man then began to reply in German, and rolled his eyes 
about and twisted his face, as though much excited. But at last he 
cried out in the Norse tongue : " I went not far, but I have great 
news ; I have found grape-vines and grapes." 

" Can that be true, my friend? " cried Captain Leif 

" Surely it is true," replied Tyrker, " for I was brought up where 
there was no lack of grape-vines and grapes." 

So the next day Captain Leif said : — " Now we have two jobs ; 
one day we will gather grapes, and the next day we shall fell trees 
to load our ships." And this they did. And Captain Leif called 
the name of the country Vinland, because of the abundance of the 
grapes and vines there. The men remained in their new home dur- 
ing the winter, which was colder than they had expected. But 
they had enough to eat, for they caught numbers of fine fish in the 
river and bay, and we may imagine what great roaring fires 
they had in the open fire-places of their huts, around which they 
sat and told stories of the perilous voyages they had known. 

In the spring they loaded their vessels with timber, and set 
sail for Greenland. All their friends were very glad to see them 
again, and to hear the story of their good fortune. 

Was not the captain well called Leif the Lucky ? For he was 
the first white man to find the great western world, to reach a great 
continent of whose existence none of the wise men among the 
nations of Europe had, before this time, even dreamed; was not 
this wonderful luck? And yet he never understood his own good 
fortune, nor knew what he had found. And though proud that 
he had been the first to sail so far, he did not want to try the 
voyage again, and when his younger brother Thorwald, an eager, 



THE STORY OF LRIF THE LUCKY. 



fiery youth, would talkaoout the wonderful, new country, and wish 
it could be further explored, Leif said : " You may take my ship if 
you wish, brother, and go with it to Vinland." 

So Thorwald fitted out the ship again and two years later set 
sail for the new land. But he had not the good fortune of his broth- 
er. He took a number of men with him, thinking to found a colony. 
Soon after these had landed and found their way to the house left by 
Leif's men, they got into a fight with the natives, and in the struggle 
Thorwald was wounded with a poisoned arrow. 
He died and was buried there. His party pass- 
ed the Winter in the Vinland huts, but as soon 
as the spring time came hastened back to 
Greenland. Then his brother Thorstein was 
very angry with the men because they did not 
bring Thorwald's body with them, and imme- 
diately fitted out a ship to go and get it. 

His faithful wife, Gudrida, went with him. 
It was late in the season when he started, and 
terrible storms met him. The^3 drove him 
back, and so disabled his ship that he was 
obliged to land and spend the winter on a 
bleak, uninhabited point of the coast. And 
here, through exposure and cold, he died and 
many of his crew died also. And with the few 
that were left, Gudrida returned home in the 
spring bearing the dead body of her husband. 
But the body of Thorwald was left in its lonely 
grave in the wilderness. More than 800 years 
after, a skeleton in armor was found in the 




r.J^^^ 



STATUK OF LEIF ERICKSON. 



earth near the head of Narragansett Bay. No 

one could say positively, who it was or when it was laid there, but 
there is good reason for thinking that it may have been the remains 
of the brave and unfortunate Norse warrior, Thorwald. 

Did any of the Icelanders ever visit Vinland again, do you ask? 
Yes, in 1007, Thorfinn Karlsefue, a rich man who had married the 
brave Gudrida, sat sail with her for Vinland. They took with them 
three ships, carrying one hundred and sixty men, some of them with 



8 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

their wives and a good outfit of tools and furniture, besides cattle to 
stock their farms. They settled at a place they called Hop. It 
is thought that this is ihe very place which is now called Mount 
Hope. The Indians called it Montaup. Here the Icelanders stayed 
two years, and here Gudrida had a little son born which she called 
Snorro. This was the first white child born on the great western con- 
tinent. 

Thorfinn and his men trafficked with the natives, exchanging 
cloth and trinkets for furs, but, as white men have done from that 
day to this, they could not resist the temptation to cheat these ignor- 
ant people, and so got into trouble with them and had many fights. 
At last they decided to give up their colony and go back to Iceland, 
and this they did. and it is not known that any other Norse- 
men ever tried to settle on the great western continent which 
they had been the first to discover. It was a grandson of 
Snorro, and a great grandson of tfie brave Gudrida — Bishop 
Thorlak Runoifson — who first examined the records of these 
early voyages, and from the traditions that had grown up about 
them, separated the truth and set It down in the history of Iceland. 
So, though the Norsemen left no records on the western continent of 
their visit here, the account as given in Icelandic history is upheld by 
so much evidence, that it cannot be doubted. A statue to Leif Erick- 
son, therefore, was erected at Boston in 1887, that the fact of his good 
luck might not be altogether forgotten in the western world. But 
now you may know what is meant by " mere luck." For had Leifs 
discovery been the result of long-studied and often-baffled purpose, as 
that of Columbus was, it could not have been utterly lost in results 
to the world. 




HOW COLUMBUS FOUND A NEW WORLD. 

1492. 

'HERE is a little rhyme which most of you know, which 
says : 

" In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, 
Columbus crossed the ocean blue." 
How many of you can tell me who Columbus was, 
and why he crossed the ocean so long ago? It is a long 
story, but you want to hear it, I know, for it was this beau- 
tiful country that we live in, which Columbus came over the seas to 
find. 

i Christopher Columbus was born in the town of Genoa, in Italy ,^ 
on the shore of the beautiful Mediterranean Sea, about the year 143^.- 
His father was a very poor man who earned his living by combing 
wool. We do not know much of Columbus when he was a boy, but 
we know that though his parents were very poor, he and his brothers 
were sent to such schools as they had at that time and they were well 
taught. 

■^ Christopher, though he studied his books as well as the others, 
was also very fond of travel and adventure, and at the age of fourteen 
he went on a voyage with his uncle out into the Mediterranean Sea 
to fight the pirates. After this he made many voyages. We do not 
know much about these, but we kno\^ that he commanded a squad- 
ron in a war between the Venetians and the Mohammedans, and 
gained much renown. At another time when engaged in a fight with 
the pirates, his vessel took fire, and he saved his life by swimming, 
with the help of an oar, to the shore, which was six miles distant. ' 
But his ambitious spirit could not be confined to the Mediterranean, 
and he made voyages to the west coast of Africa, to the Madeira is- 
lands, to England, and visited Iceland, where he was no doubt told 



10 STORIES OF THE THEEE AMERICAS. 

of the discoveries of Leif the Lucky, and this must have made him 
more eager than ever to push his voyages over the great seas. 

In the course of his wanderings, when he was about thirty-five 
years old, Columbus reached Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. While 
remaining there he was married to the daughter of a sea captain, and 
his wife's mother, seeing how he liked to hear about sea voyages, gave 
him all her husband's papers. In these Columbus found the record 
of several attempts which the king of Portugal had made to find the 
coast of India by water. India was a country which lay in the far east. 
Thence were brought many spices, silks and jewels which the people 
of Europe wanted, and for which they were willing to pay much 
money. But the only way by which these things could be brought 
to Europe was across a rude, wild desert where there were many rob- 
bers. So there were great rewards of riches in store for those who 
found a safer and cheaper way to reach this eastern land. 

. Columbus, as well as a great many other sailors, began to thinK 
of sailing out on the ocean to look for a water passage to India. But 
in those times it was not an easy matter to make a long sea voyage. 
For then the people knew nothing certain of the shape of the earth, 
nor what kind of people lived in it. Some said the earth was flat and 
if they sailed too far they would come to the end and fall ofi". Others 
said that it rounded and whoever went to the other side could not get 
back; for who could sail uphill? Those who had been farther south 
said that it grew more and more hot until they came to a place where 
the waves were boiling with a heat in which no man could live. In 
all the maps of this age the unknown parts of the world were shown 
full of strange and horrible monsters and evil spirits, waiting to de- 
stroy the daring men who should venture into their world. 

But Columbus did not believe in all these stories, and he made 
up his mind to sail to India. Some philosophers had declared that 
the earth was probably a great round ball, and Columbus was sure 
that they were right. If so, he said, anyone by sailing straight west 
could reach India quite as easily as by going east. So he began to 
try to find some one who would help him make this discovery. But 
this was not easy to do, and Columbus was many years going from 
one king to another. At first he went to the king of Portugal. He 
hoped very much that this king would help him, for he was trying 



HOW COLUMBUS FOUND A NEW WORLD. 



11 



to find a way to India, and had sent out many sailors to look for it, 
but as yet none of them thought of going west, they had always sailed 
toward the south of Africa. King John listened to all Columbus had 
to say, for Columbus was a tall, fine-looking man, who stood up 
bravely even before kings ; and spoke so earnestly that it seemed as 
though everyone must believe him. 

When Columbus had told his plan the king said he would think 
of it and sent him away until he could ask his wise men what they 
thought. I am sorry to say that these men advised him to do a very 
mean thing. At first they laughed 
at Columbus ; but the king seemed 
to think so much about his words 
that they said: "Why not just send 
and find out for yourself? Then 
the people will say what a wise 
king you are, and will not know 
any thing about Columbus." 

So King John pretended that 
he wanted to think over what Co- 
lumbus had said, and borrowed his 
papers and maps. He then gave 
them to one of his own captains 
whom he sent out secretly to look for 
India. This captain was not brave 
and wise like Columbus, and after 
he had been many days out of sight 
of land he grew afraid, and, coming 
back, he told such stories about the 
dangers and horrors of the ocean 

that everyone said: " Of course it is impossible to cross it." Then 
King John gave the papers back to Columbus saying that he did not 
care to try the new plan. But Columbus found out what the king 
had done and went away from Portugal very angry to think that a 
king would be so unfair. He took his little son with him, for his 
wife was dead, and there was nothing to make him want to come 
back to the land where he had been so unkindly treated. He next 
sent his brother to the king of England, while he himself went to his 




SHIPS OF COLUMBUS. 



12 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

native city, Genoa; but the English king would not listen to the pro- 
ject;* and as for Columbus, when the people of the court of Genoa 
heard that he was the son of a poof wool-comber they would not listen 
to him either. So, discouraged and tired, the poor man started for 
Spain. He was now without money so that he had to walk, after he 
left the ship, leading his little son by the hand. He soon found friends 
with whom he left little Diego, while he went on hopefully to Cor- 
dova. It seemed now that he had come to the right place to find 
help. The reason it seemed so was that Spain was growing to be a 
very rich country. Ferdinand, the king of one of its richest prov- 
inces, had married Isabella, the queen of another rich province, and 
these two monarchs were called the two kings, because Isabella was 
as wise and strong and brave as any man. These two kings had put 
their soldiers together and soon had possession of nearly all the rest 
of the country. Columbus thought that this rich country, with its 
two wise rulers, would be glad to find a new nation with which to buy 
and sell. . 

But he had come at an unlucky time, for Ferdinand and Isabella 
were at this time carrying on a war with the Moors, an African peo- 
ple who lived in Spain. They were, therefore, too busy to attend to 
Columbus; but some of the great men to whom Columbus spoke 
were so sure that the good queen would want to be the one to find 
the new way to India that tfiey asked him to stay. So Columbus 
waited patiently many years until the people began to laugh at him, 
and the boys on the streets tapped their foreheads when they saw 
him, as much as to say that he was crazy. And when, after some 
years, the war was ended and Ferdinand had time to listen, his wise 
men argued with him not to have anything to do with such a foolish 
plan, and Columbus was again turned away. 

He was more discouraged than ever now, because so many years 
had been wasted in waiting. Still he planned to try again and was 
making ready to go to France, when a kind monk who had befriended 
the wise sailor all along, wrote to the queen and related to her what 
Columbus had said of the new passage to the rich country, of the 



* One story is that Bartholomew Columbus, the brother, was taken by pirates and did 
-^ not escape from them and reach England until after Co:umbus had finally set sail on his voy- 



atre to the New World 



HOW COLUMBUS FOUND A NEW WORLD. 13 

many islands in the wide ocean, of the many heathen he thought 
there might be there who had never heard of the Christian religion. 
At last the queen was so moved by what the good priest had written, 
and by the arguments of one of her chief officers, who had favored 
the project of Columbus from the first, that she consented to aid in 
fitting out the ships. There was not much mone}^ in the treasury, 
she said, but she would pledge the crown jewels to raise enough for 
the purpose. So Columbus was at last successful, although he had 
waited such long, weary years that his hair was snowy white. But 
his heart was still strong and brave. 

The ships which the queen had promised were given by the town 
of Palos in payment of a debt to the crown, so Columbus sailed from 
that harbor; but so full of fears were the people of the perils of the 
great ocean, that even after the ships were secured it was hard work 
to find men who would sail them. At last everything was ready, and 
on the 10th of August the little fleet of three ships sailed out of the 
harbor from the sight of weeping friends, who never expected to see 
them again. As I said before, it was very hard to get sailors at all, 
and those who came were so unwilling and afraid, that Columbus 
resorted to a trick to prevent their being frightened back too soon. 
He would every day reckon the distance they had sailed ; but he 
kept> two records ; one for himself which showed the true distance, 
and the other for the men, which gave a great deal less than the true 
distance. He did this because he knew that if the land were a great 
deal farther off than he had told them it would be, they would say he 
knew nothing about it and want to turn right back. 

Columbus had a very hard journey with his unwilling sailors, 
for they did nothing but complain. First it was a storm which they 
were sure would drown them, then because of fair weather and good 
sailing which they were sure was a bad spell to lead them on to an 
evil land. Their leader tried everything, kind words at first, then 
threats of the king's anger, to make them go on ; but they were so set 
on going back that they laid a plot to throw Columbus overboard and 
go back without him, when such certain signs of land were seen that 
they gave up their wicked plan. 

On the 25th of September, the sailors saw what seemed to be a 
ridge of cloud-capped mountains in the southwest, and at the order 

\ 



14 



STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 



of Columbus all united in a hymn of praise. But the -next morning, 
there was no land to be seen. Soon after this, however, a branch of 
a tree with green leaves on it was seen on the water, and pieces of 
wood and a carved staff were picked up. The night of the Uth of 
October came. It was cloudless and the sky was brilliant with stars. 
Columbus was so sure that land was near, that he took his stand in 




THE FIRST SIGHT OF THE NEW WORLD. 



the bow of the vessel, and eagerly gazed over the waves, which were 
almost still, so calm was the air. At last, at about ten o'clock he saw 
the gleam of a torch, far away in the west. He called first one and 
then another of the officers of his ship, and both saw the light, and 
said that it must be a torch for it moved about. Soon it disappeared ; 
but Columbus and the sailors kept up their watch, and at two o'clock 



HOW COLUMBUS FOUND A NEW WORLD. 15 

in the morning, as the first gray of dawn was appearing, the dark 
outline of land was seen from all the ships. The rest of the night soon 
passed and the morning dawned, bright and beautiful. The eager 
sailors saw a lovely island spread out before them, covered with 
beautiful trees, grass and flowers. Men with dark skins and naked 
bodies were seen running about the shore. Then the ships' boats 
were lowered, and Columbus, dressed in scarlet robes, and with Cas- 
tilian plumes on his head, led the crews, and they rowed to the land. 
The leader was the first to land, and immediately he knelt down and 
gave thanks to God for the great discovery. The men now gathered 
around him, and those who had been most discontented, wept, kissed 
his hands and implored forgiveness. Columbus then planted the 
cross on the shore, and the banner of Spain beside it, and took posses- 
sion of the country in the name of King Ferdinand and Queen Isa- 
bella. 

Off in the distance the simple natives of the land stood full of 
wonder. They had never seen any ships before and it seemed to 
them that the great white sails must be wings. So they said the ves- 
sels were large birds which had flown out of the faraway sky, and the 
white men seemed to them angels or gods who had come out of 
heaven. They were very kind to these strangers, bringing them food 
and many gifts; and when Columbus or the sailors gave them any- 
thing in return, such as beads, nails or bells, they were highly de- 
lighted, for these things were new and strange to them. 

Columbus knew nothing of how large the earth really was and 
thought he had reached India. So he called these islands the Indies, 
and even yet they are known as the West Indies, and the natives of 
the New World have always been called Indians. 

After visiting many islands, where he was always kindly received 
by the simple Indians, Columbus began to think of going home. 
About this time his largest ship, the Santa Maria, was wrecked, and 
he was left with only two small vessels, the Pinta and the Nina, in 
which to carry all his men back to Spain. So when a number of his 
sailors came and said that this was such a pleasant country and the 
way home so long they would rather not go, Columbus was glad to let 
them stay, and he had the rest of the sailors help them build houses 
of the broken ship. Then they started on the homeward voyage. 



16 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

which was not at all pleasant, for this time it was very stormy so 
that they were afraid that the ships would be wrecked. Columbus 
himself was so afraid that he would never bring the news of his dis- 
covery to Spain, that he wrote an account of it and enclosed it in 
an empty cask which he threw overboard, hoping this might float 
to land if his ship did not. The storm at last calmed down, but it 
had separated the two ships. This troubled Columbus, for he feared 
that the captain of the other ship was hurrying to Spain to claim the 
great discovery as his own. 

The ship of Columbus was so badly strained that he had to stop 
at a port of Portugal for repairs, and King John now heard of what 
he had missed by his unkindness to the wise stranger in his court. 
Columbus now refused to visit the king, for after what had happened 
he did not trust him, and feared that the king would try to keep him 
from going away. So, soon as his ship was mended, the great dis- 
coverer hurried to Spain where he was everywhere greeted with won- 
der and delight. Soon after the king and queen had heard his story 
the second ship came in, and, as Columbus had expected, its captain 
announced the wonderful discovery as his own. In answer the king 
reproved him for his deceit, at which Pinzon, the captain, was so 
ashamed and grieved that he went to his home and it is said that he 
never again went to sea but died of shame. 




THE FATE OF COLUMBUS. 

1493—1506. 



wW that Coiumbus had found the new world, no one laughed 
at him or called him crazy. But some people who wished 
they were great too, began to say that Columbus was not so 
smart after all ; anyone could have found this new country, 
all there was to do was to sail west. They said something 
like this to Columbus one day at table, and for an answer 
he took an egg and asked who could stand it on end. After 
each had tried it and given up, Columbus took the egg and when 
he struck it on the table so hard as to flatten the end, it stood 
readily. By this he meant to say to them: "Yes, it is very easy 
when you know how, but who thought of it? " 

As soon as the first delight over the great discovery ha& worn 
off, the king and queen wanted very much to have Columbus go back 
to look further and find out the riches of this new land. The queen 
was much interested, too, in the Indians. Columbus had brought 
nine of the natives of the strange country with him, and the queen 
was much pleased at their simple, gentle manners and wished to have 
them taught the Christian religion. 

It was not hard now to find sailors for his ships, and in about a 
year from the time he made his first voyage, Columbus returned to 
the new country with about 1,500 men. He was much grieved to 
learn that the men whom he had left on the island were not to be 
found. They had been so cruel to the natives that the latter had 
risen and killed them. The new ships stopped at this same island, 
which Columbus had named Hispaniola, and the men set to work to 
build the town of San Domingo. Most of the men who had come 
out with Columbus on the second voyage were adventurers who had 
expected to find gold lying about on the sands, and when they were 
disappointed in this and found they must work for a Uving, they 



18 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

were very angry and said many unkind things about Columbus 
which afterward caused him much trouble. They tried to make the 
king believe that Columbus did not send him all the gold he had 
promised; others said that he was trying to set up a kingdom for 
himself in the new country. 

Columbus was so troubled by these things that he left his brother 
to govern for him and, gathering a shipload of such treasures as he 
could find, went back to Spain. He showed the king and queen that 
the charges brought against him were all false, and obtained the 
royal sanction to make a third voyage of discovery. This time he 
sailed farther to the south, and on the 1st of August, 1498, he first 
saw the mainland of the western continent at the mouth of the river 
Orinoco, in South America. He did not know the land was part of a 
continent, however, he thought it was an island like the others that 
he had found. He then went back to San Domingo and found that 
there had been much trouble in his absence. Some wicked men had 
said it was Columbus the king had told them to obey, and not his 
brother. So they disobeyed the laws and went to another part of the 
island, where they treated the Indians very unkindly and made much 
trouble for their own people. Columbus now found it so hard to get 
these men to do right that he wrote to the king to help him, and as 
soon as the men in Spain who hated him heard of his trouble, they 
said it was because he was so cruel. The good queen did not believe 
this, but when many of the men who would not obey Columbus 
came back to Spain, bringing with them Indian slaves which they 
said Columbus had given them, she was very angry and said : " These 
people are my subjects and Columbus has no right to give them 
away." So she gave up trying to help this man who had added so 
much to the Spanish power, but let the king choose a man to take 
his place as governor and send home the rebels. This man did not 
try to learn whether the charges were true, but had Columbus and 
his brother both bound with chains, and taken on board the ship to 
be taken back to Spain. 

When this vessel had set sail the captain ofifered to unloose the 
chains, but Columbus said : " The king said I should submit to what 
the new governor commanded, and I shall wear these chains until 
Ferdinand himself says they shall be taken oQ." So the great dis- 



THE FATE OF COLUMBUS. 



19 



coverer came to Spain in irons, and this seemed such an injustice that 
even his enemies were angry, and the king sent word immediately 
for him to be loosed and brought to court. There he was very kindly 
received, and Columbus, who had borne all the unkindness without 
a word, when he saw now sorry the good queen was for his wrongs, 
knelt at her feet and burst into tears. 

I am sorry to say that the king, although he sent out a new gov- 
ernor to take the place of the one who had been so unjust, never kept 
his promise to make 
Columbus ruler ov- 
er the lands he had 
discovered. Per- 
haps he feared that 
such a great and 
wise man might 
really try to make 
himself king. Per- 
haps he thought it 
was a good deal to 
pay for the ships 
in which Columbus 
should make his 
journeys when a 
great many were 
glad to go in their 
own ships. Or it 
may be that he real- 
ly believed that Co- 
lumbus was cruel 
to the natives. It 
is true that Colum- 
bus allowed these people to be made slaves; he thought that 
this would be the best way to civilize them, and induce them to 
accept the Christian faith. But he never allowed cruelty and it was 
because he punished the Spaniards so severely for their Avickedness 
to the natives, that he was charged with being cruel. Under the new 
governor the Indians fared much worse, and great numbers of them 




COLL'MIiUS I'KESENTING INDIANS TO FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 



20 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

perished. I think Columbus must have been sorry sometimes that 
he had shown the cruel Spaniards the way to this pleasant land. 

Although Ferdinand and Isabella would not let him go back to 
Hispaniola where he had been governor, Columbus was allowed to 
go on a fourth voyage of discovery in 1502. One of his ships got 
out of repair on the voyage and he wanted to take refuge in the 
harbor at San Domingo but the Spaniards would not allow it and 
sent him out in a dreadful storm from the very port to which he had 
led them. He then sailed west, believing that he would find the way 
to reach Asia, and touched on the shores of what is now Central 
America. On his way back, his vessels were so leaky that he had to 
stop near a little islacd, and though he sent word to the governor of 
Hispaniola of his trouble he was left there in the leaky ships for 
more than a year. 

In that year Columbus had a very hard time. At first the 
Indians were kind and brought them food every day, but by and by 
some of the sailors rebelled because Columbus kept them on 
board ship, and ran away. Then there happened what Columbus 
had tried to prevent by keeping the men on board ship. These men 
were so cruel, and wronged the Indians in so many ways, that the 
poor savages grew angry at all the white people and would not bring 
Columbus and his men any more food. Then Columbus, who could 
tell the position of the stars and moon very well, tried by means of 
this knowledge to frighten the Indians. He knew by the position of 
the heavenly bodies that there was to be a total eclipse of the moon 
the next night. So he sent for all the Indian chiefs and told them 
that the white men worshipped a God who lived in the sky and this 
God took care of the white men and punished any one who hurt 
them. " Now," said he, " you have been cruel to the white man and 
tried to starve him, and for a sign that the God of the white men is 
angry, tonight the moon will grow dark." The chiefs pretended to 
laugh at Columbus but still they watched the moon, and when, as he 
said, a dark shadow began to creep over it, they were much afraid, 
and shrieked and begged Columbus to pray to his God not to punish 
them and they would do all they could to help him. So Columbus 
told them that if they would bring food to the white men the light 
of the moon would be restored, and soon after he said this, the 



THE FATE OF COLUMBUS. 



21 



shadow slowly withdrew. The natives then brought him abundant 
supplies of corn and other food. 

At last after much suffering, Columbus reached Spain again, to 
find his good friend. Queen Isabella, dead. In her death Columbus 
had lost his best friend, the only friend, indeed, through whom he 
could hope for justice. King Ferdinand had made many promises 
to him, but, after the Queen's death, he broke them all. After two 
weary years of wait- 
ing for justice, then, 
Columbus died in 
great poverty and, 
according to his last 
wish, in his coffin 
were placed the 
chains which were 
his reward from 
the ungrateful king. 
This monarch how- 
ever, gave him a 
grand funeral in the 
lown of Valladolid, 
and built over his 
dead body a fine 
tomb. 

The bones of 
this traveler who 
had spent his life 
in journeying were 
not allowed to rest 
even in death, for 
they were soon tak- 
en to Seville and afte wards removed to the new land he had discovered. 
There they were buried with great ceremony in a large church at 
San Domingo, where they lay quiet for nearly three hundred years. 
At the end of that time Spain was defeated in a war with France, 
and compelled to give up the island wherein Columbus lay buried. 
So the Spaniards put their goods in ships and prepared to sail ; but 




CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 



22 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

before they came away they asked their governor that the bones of 
Columbus might be taken with them. So the governor sent ships, 
the soldiers put on their best uniforms and with great ceremony they 
took the mouldering dust of Columbus from the very port where 
three hundred years before, his living body had been loaded with 
chains and sent away in disgrace. They carried the remains to 
Havana in a splendid coffin and placed them in a great cathedral, 
and there they are to this day, and if you should ever go there you 
could see the place where they lie with this writing above them. 

To Castile and Leon 
Columbus gave a new world. 

This was the inscription which King Ferdinand bad placed on 
the tomb of Columbus at Valladolid. But we know that the great 
discoverer gave a new world not to Spain only, but to all Europe. 



THE PEOPLE THAT LIVED IN THE NEW WORLD. 




^ EFORE Columbus found his way over the trackless seas to 
San Salvador, even long before Leif the Lucky set sail from 
the shores of Iceland, this great, unknown western world 
was peopled with a race of men of whose history and origin 
almost nothing is known, even to this day. Columbus 
thought the land that he had found was a part of India, 
and for this reason called its natives Indians, but when white men 
came to know more about these people, they were found to be not at 
all like the Indians of the old world. 

But how did they come to the western continent ? For, as every- 
body knows, the home of the first parents of the world — Adam and 
Eve — was in Asia. And so it must be that the natives of America 
first came from Northern Asia, crossing the narrow waters of Beh- 
ring's strait, but this must have been very early in the history of the 
world. For though there is some likeness between the language and 
customs of the people of Northern Asia, and those of the early natives 
of America, there are also great dififerences which make them seem 
like dififerent people. 

When America was discovered it was inhabited every where from 
the north polar regions, up in the country of icebergs, down to its 
extreme southern point which is almost in sight of the ice-fields of 
the south pole. These people have been supposed all to belong to 
the same race, but they differed much in manners and customs. 
Some were savages of the wildest kind ; others were quite civilized. 
In the very northern part of the hemisphere lived the Eskimo tribes. 
These were savages. South of these were very many families or 
tribes dififering in some thmgs, but much alike in others. They were 
generally not so savage as the Eskimo, and further to the south they 
became more and more improved. In the southwestern part of what 
is now the United States and in what is now Mexico, lived the Aztec 



24 



STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 



tribes, which were very different from the other tribes of North 
America, and were quite civilized. There were also civilized tribes 
in the northern part of South America, but in the. southern part the 
tribes were altogether wild and savage. 

The North American Indians had a brown or copper- colored 
skin and long straight hair. They lived a wild, roving life, support- 
ing themselves mostly by hunting. But they tilled the ground also, 
for they raised Indian corn, and beans and pumpkins. They did 

not have many tools 
for farming. They 
had hoes made by 
fastening a piece of 
deer's horn, or a 
bone, on a stick. 
In getting a piece 
of woodland ready 
for farming, they 
would strip off the 
bark of the trees in 
the summer time, 
so that these would 
die; then in the 
winter they would 
burn the trees 
down. They had 
rude axes made of 
stone, with which 
they could cut 
down small trees. 
They had no iron, and for knives they used pieces of bone, sharp 
stones and shells. 

Perhaps if the Indian men had been obliged to do their farming 
with these rude tools, they would have been more anxious to make them 
better. But they thought it was not manly for them to do anything 
but hunt game, or make war on their enemies. And so they made 
the women of the tribes, "the squaws," do all the hard work, and of 
course they did not care what clumsy tools these poor creatures had 




AN INDIAN LODGE. 



THE PEOPLE THAT LIVED IN THE NEW WORLD. 25 

to use. These squaws dug the ground for the corn and other crops, 
planted and harvested them. They skinned the animals which the 
" braves '' — as the men called themselves — took in hunting; they pre- 
pared the meat, cooked it or dried it for future use, and made the 
skins into garments for themselves, their husbands and their chil- 
dren, using a long thorn needle and sinews of the deer for thread. 

Do you want to know what kind of houses these Indians lived 
in? They had tents of bark supported by poles. For this they pre- 
ferred the bark of the birch tree, which was very tough. They cov- 
ered their houses in the very cold weather, also, with the skins of 
animals. They did not have much furniture. They used skins for 
their beds, or birch-bark mats; they had no chairs, for they sat on 
the ground, and they had no tables, for they had nothing to put on 
them. To make a bowl or dish, they lit a fire on a block of wood, 
and as it burned they scooped it out with a shell or sharp stone, till 
they had a hollow vessel. They cooked their food by putting water 
in these wooden kettles, and then throwing into it red-hot stones. 
When "the stones had made the water hot, they put in whatever they 
wished to cook. Some tribes could make pots of earthenware, and 
others could cut them out of soapstone. These vessels of pottery or 
soapstone could le set over the fire. Fish and meat were cooked by 
being put on a stick and held over the fire, green corn was put in hot 
ashes to roast, and in the same way they cooked squashes and pump- 
kins and various roots. They made bread by pounding grain, mix- 
ing it with water and baking it in the ashes. 

All the Indian tribes living near rivers and lakes made canoes. 
Some tribes made these by burning out a log slowly, scraping the 
charred part away with shells, until the boat was deep enough and 
of the right shape. Other tribes made canoes of wide strips of birch- 
bark, sewed together with sinews, and made water-tight with resin 
or other gums taken from trees. 

How do you think an Indian made a fire to cook his food ? He 
drilled a hole with a sharp stone in a block of wood. In this hole he 
put the end of a stick, and this stick he twirled so fast with the help 
of a bowstring that he set it on fire. 

The clothing of the North American Indians was mostly made of 
the skins of the deer or beaver. They made of these mantles to be 



26 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

thrown around the shoulders, leggins, and shoes or " moccasins." Both 
men and women were fond of adorning themselves with strings of sea- 
shells, which they called " wampum." They used this wampum also 
for money. 

The Indian warriors often painted their faces in stripes of differ- 
ent colors, and decorated themselves with bears' claws and the rat- 
tles of snakes, to make themselves look fierce. These men had great 
courage in war, and would bear the worst pain, even cruel torture, 
which each tribe inflicted upon prisoners that it had captured, with- 
out a murmur. All the tribes had chiefs, and all important matters 
of peace or war were settled by a council of the leading men of the 
tribe. 

The North American Indians had very little religion. They 
generally believed in a powerful invisible being which they called 
the Great Spirit, and they believed that after death the good people 
went to a beautiful country, which they spoke of as " the happy 
hunting-grounds." In every tribe there was a medicine-man, who 
dressed himself up strangely, and made the others of the tribe 
believe that he could drive away evil spirits. The Indians were 
very superstitious because they were so ignorant, and they thought 
that every harm that came to them was caused by an evil spirit. 

There are some North American tribes, in the far west to-day, 
who are just as ignorant and savage as the first natives found by the 
white men in this country four hundred years ago. Some tribes 
have been partly civilized, and have learned to build houses, to work 
farms and to live as white men do. But most of the tribes have been 
killed off, to make room for the white men to live. The white men 
have never cared particularly whether the Indians had any chance 
to become civilized or not, all they wanted has been to get him out 
of the way so that white men could become rich by using his land. 
And so the Indians have been driven from the coast to the central 
plains and still further to the Rocky Mountains. And the few that 
are left are only allowed to hold lands that the white men do not 
want. If there is any thing good on their land, white men order 
them off, or pretend to buy their land from them. And if they do 
not like to be driven from their homes, or sell their land for almost 
nothing, the white men get up a war and kill them ofi*. 



THE PEOPLE THAT LIVED IN THE NEW WORLD. 



27 



In the central part of the great western continent, as I told you, 
some natives were found who were much more civilized than the 
Indians. In what is now New Mexico and Arizona, some tribes of 
this kind were found by the earliest explorers. Some of these lived 
in large buildings called pueblos. These were several stories high, 
and had within their walls many rooms, so that nearly a whole 
tribe could live in one building. Some of these great structures were 
made of stone but the most of them were of adobe, or blocks of clay 
dried in the sun. Other tribes lived in houses built in excavations 
or on natural terraces on the side of high cliffs. They were usually 
small houses of only a few rooms each, and it is supposed that they 
were used only in the 
winter, or as places of 
retreat from the tribes 
when attacked by ene- 
mies. On the banks 
of the Mississippi also 
there was a small tribe, 
called the Natchez, 
which lived in larger 
adobe dwellings. It is 
curious that the Nat- 
chez and also the peo- 
ple of Mexico, and of 5»'j»ks._ ^Miitn,2» -- _. n,-, ^ 

the northern part of SbB^^. v- ..j^PsH.-«'?n.*h«^.-'>«w^ "^- ■'^^ " --i 
South America all wor- 
shipped the sun, and 
had large temples to the sun in their cities, as the ancient Per- 
sians did. 

In Mexico the white men found a people much lighter in com- 
plexion than the North American Indians. They lived in large and 
beautiful cities, had a well established government, manufactured 
fabrics of various kinds, and worked in wood and in metals. Their 
religion was that of heathens, for they offered human sacrifices to 
their gods at stated times, but in other respects they were a people of 
mild character. They were not lazy like the North American Indi- 
ans, but they were not physically strong, and when the white men 




INDIAN WOMEN BUILDING WIGWAM. 



28 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

conquered them and made slaves of them, they died off so fast that 
some of tht tribes are quite extinct. 

In Peru, South America, other civilized nations were found who, 
like the Aztecs of Mexico, lived in fine cities. They had magnificent 
temples, beautiful palaces, and had built large and strong acqueducts 
and bridges. They were a mild people, and, living in a country 
abounding in precious metals, were very rich in gold and silver. 
This aff'orded a fine excuse for the white men to kill them ofi" as soon 
as possible, and take possession of all their wealth. 

After America had been settled many years and a powerful 
repubhc of white men had grown up here and had spread all over its 
central valleys, many traces were found of an ancient people that 
seemed to have been quite different from the Indians. Large mounds 
were found and in these were discovered weapons and household 
vessels of a kind that none of the Indians had ever made. As the 
Indians had no stories about these mounds it has been supposed that 
they were built by a people that lived here before the Indians. 
These people were spoken of as the Mound Builders, but of course 
no one knows what their real name may have been. And it has 
been supposed that they came over from Asia in very, very early 
times, and that after they had lived in this country many years, the 
wild race from which the Indians came, followed them. The wild 
people took possession of the country, and drove the Mound Builders 
away, and these went southward, and it is thought to have been 
their descendants that the white men found in the Natchez tribe, the 
Toltecs of Mexico, and the Peruvians. But all these people lived so 
very long ago that no one really knows anything about them. And 
to understand how it is impossible for us to know any thing surely 
about this people you must remember that none of them had any 
written language. Their only method of writing was by pictures, 
and even of this imperfect record very little now remains. 




THE SPANISH CAVALIERS. 

1499—1512. 

HE SPANISH people were very proud of the fact that a 
Spanish ship was the first European vessel to visit the new 
world, though they were too selfish to give credit to the 
brave Columbus, who had guided their vessel thither. 
And they were eager to push forward their discoveries in 
the new country, especially as they believed that gold and 
precious stones were to be found there, and that they 
could enrich themselves by stealing the inhabitants and selling them 
for slaves, and in many other ways. 

•It is sad to think that Columbus, whose patience and courage 
opened the way to the new world, should himself die in poverty and 
need, while other men were reaping wealth' through his discovery. 
It is sad to think that the people of Europe were so indifferent to the 
fame that he had fairly earned, that they did not even call the land 
by his name. But it is most sad to remember that Columbus never 
knew the true nature of his great discovery. He never knew that he 
had found a magnificent continent, unknown up to that time to the 
civilized world. 

He believed to the day of his death that the islands that he had 
found were part of the Indies, lying east of the continent of Asia. 
Though on his third voyage in 1798, he saw the continent of South 
America, near the mouth of the great river Orinoco, he never knew 
that the land he saw was anything more than the shore of an island. 
At that time there were many young men in Spain, eager for ad- 
ventures by land and sea. Some of these had served in the wars 
with the Moors, others had taken part in other European wars, or in 
the conflicts with the Algerian pirates that infested the Mediterra- 
nean Sea. All were men of great personal courage, though many of 

29 



30 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

them were heartless and cruel, and all were eager jind greedy for the 
wealth that was said to be found in the New World. 

Among these cavaliers there was one named Alonzo de Ojeda. 
He was a small man but was said to be very strong. There was a 
story that he could throw an orange from the ground to the top of 
a great building in Seville, 250 feet high. It is known also that he 
was of a very daring spirit, that he never feared any danger, or 
shrank from any pain. He was with Columbus on the great admiral's 
second voyage, when he visited Hispaniola. After Columbus had 
made a third voyage, in which he discovered the mouth of a mighty 
river, the Orinoco, Ojeda got some rich men to help him, and fitted 
out a fleet with which he sailed to that place and explored the South 
American coast for many hundreds of miles. 

He found many wonderful things. He found a city made up of 
houses built on piles in the water of a shallow bay, and this city he 
called Venezuela, or little Venice, for he thought it was like the great 
city of Venice in Europe, which had streets of water between the 
houses. The Indians had heard of the cruelties the white men had 
committed on the island of Hispaniola, and tried to drive them away, 
but as they had only bows and arrows, and the Spaniards had guns, 
the poor Indians were overcome, and were made to pay to the white 
men all the gold and precious things that they possessed. 

Ojeda went home much pleased at his discoveries, and his friends 
induced the king to appoint him governor of the country he had 
found. But before he could get his vessels fitted out for another voy- 
age, some one who wanted to get part of the gold that it was thought 
he had obtained in the New World, brought an unjust suit against 
him. Ojeda went into court to fight these unfair claims, but it was 
several years before the suit was ended, and then, though the judge 
said that Ojeda was right, and that he did not owe any money to these 
claimants, this unfortunate man had to pay so much money to the 
lawyers, that he had nothing left to fit out his ships. So he was 
obliged to struggle along for several years. At last in 1509, King 
Ferdinand sent out an expedition, with three hundred men, which 
was to form a colony and look for gold. After the expedition had 
started, Ojeda succeeded, by the help of his friends, in getting from 
the king a commission as governor of one of the provinces of the new 



THE SPANISH CAVALIERS. 



country, aud he immediately followed the fleet in a small ship and 
joined it at Hispaniola. There were two men who joined this expe- 
dition whose names we shall give you to remember as we shall tell 
you some more about them. These are Hernando Cortez and Fran- 
cisco Pizarro. But when the ships were ready to sail from Hispaniola 
Cortez had to be left behind because he was sick. 

Ojeda set sail for the South American coast and cast anchor at 
laHt in the bay which the Spaniards had named Carthagena, because 
they meant to build a town there and call it New Carthage. The 
Spaniards afterward called the country New Granada; it is now 
called Colombia. But the natives there were very fierce. They had 
heard of the white men and were determined to drive them away. 
One of the first things 
that Ojeda did was to 
organize an expedition 
to go inland, and search 
for gold. After going a 
short distance, however, 
they met a great army of 
the natives, who were 
armed with great palm- 
wood swords,osier shields 
and bows and arrows. 
Their arrows were pois- 
oned, also, as the white 
men soon learned to their 
sorrow. The native wo- 
men came out with the men to fight, and they had large conch- 
shells on which they blew in the battle, to encourage one another. 

When Ojeda met the natives he tried to make them understand, 
by signs, that he wished to be friendly with them. He had a priest 
go forward also and read a paper telling the natives that all the 
world belonged to a great pope who had given all the islands and 
continents in the western ocean to the King of Spain, and that this 
king had sent Ojed^ and his followers lo demand the submission and 
tribute of the natives. It is possible that if the ignorant natives had 
been able to understand this high-sounding proclamation, it might 




MODERN INDIANS OF NEW GRANADA. 



32 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

have made some impression upon them, but as they did not know 
what a word of it meant, it is not strange that they would not listen, 
but only blew a war-note on their conch-shells and drew their bows. 
There was a sharp fight, but the Spanish guns at last made the 
Indians turn and flee. However, all who had been wounded by the 
arrows soon after died in great pain, and this cut down the Spanish 
army a great deal. Then Ojeda, who was always rash, insisted upon 
following the retreating Indians, though his companions begged him 
not to do so. They would not desert him, however, and when he 
would go on they went too. Then the fleeing Indians were joined by 
others of their tribe, and they turned around and surrounded the 
whites, and killed them every one except two, Ojeda and one other 
man. This other made his way back to the ship and told the Span- 
iards of the fights with the Indians. Then a number of men came 
on shore, and searched for many days, not daring, however, to go 
very far inland away from their ships, hoping to find some of their 
companions who had escaped from the Indians alive. 

After some days they came to a large grove of curious trees 
which grow in the swamps but have roots rising far above the sur- 
face before the trunk of the tree begins. These are called mangrove 
trees, and can still be seen in many parts of Central and South 
America. The roots formed a great matted mass above the water of 
the swamp. At one place the men thought they saw something that 
looked like a man hidden among thse roots. Looking closer they 
saw the man had clothing on. Then the men climbed in among the 
roots, and found Ojeda there, so overcome with hunger, exposure and 
weariness, that he could not speak. His sword was still in his feeble 
hand, however, and his shield was on his arm, but though there were 
marks of three hundred arrows on his shield, he was not wounded. 
His friends took him back to the ship, and took care of him till he 
was quite recovered. You might think that he had had enough of 
adventures in the new country by this time, but he was eager to go 
in search of more as soon as he was well again. 

He then set sail with his ships for the bay of Uraba where, he 
had been told, the Indians were not so fierce. He founded a city on 
the shores of this bay which he called St. Sebastian. But he and his 
men had a hard time of it here. They had to build a stockade 



THE SPANISH CAVALIERS. 33 

around their settlement, and every time a white man went outside of 
this, some lurking Indian would shoot him with a poisoned arrow so 
that he would die. Then the white men suffered dreadfully for want 
of food, for the Indians were so unfriendly that they could not buy 
of them, and they did not see any chance of getting the stock of gold 
and silver which they were so anxious for. All this time Ojeda, 
though he exposed himself constantly, had never y€t been wounded. 
He believed that the Virgin Mary took especial care of him, because 
he carried a picture of her on a string around his neck all the time. 
The Indians, too, began to believe that he was protected by some 
magic spell, and to make sure of it they had four of their best archers 
shoot at him at the same time. Three of the arrows glanced off from 
Ojeda's shield, but the fourth one wounded him in the thigh. His 
followers were of course terrified, and believed that he would soon die 
like all the others who had been hurt by the poisoned arrows. But 
Ojeda was too brave to yield even now. He had two plates of iron 
made white with heat, and placed one on each side of the wound and 
bore the horrible agony of their burning without a groan. After this, 
he had sheets dipped in vinegar, and wrapped around him, to cool 
the fever heat that seemed to fill his whole body, and, strange to say, 
he was quite cured by this treatment. 

Soon after this a ship came to St. Sebastian from Hispaniola, 
filled with Spaniards eager to see if the colonists were not all getting 
rich. But when they saw the misery of the colonists they wanted to 
go away again." Ojeda said he would go with them and get a ship- 
load of supplies for his colony. He left Pizarro to manage the 
affairs of the colony in his absence and went aboard the ship. As 
soon as this vessel was out of sight of land, the officers put their new 
passenger in irons. However, soon after a great storm arose, and as 
Ojeda was the only man on board who could manage a ship in dan- 
ger, and as besides they were beginning to fear that the Virgin would 
punish them for misusing her especial favorite, he was set free. But 
the storm only grew worse and worse, and at last the ship was broken 
and run aground on the coast of Cuba. 

There were no Spanish settlements there, and the natives would 
not do any thing for them, for these had learned to dread the sight 
of a white man. They had to struggle through salt marshes, where 



34 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

the water was nearly up to their waists, and they could get nothing 
to eat. The scanty supplies they had brought from the ship were 
soon gone, and still they struggled on, toiling through the mud and 
water during the day, and at night climbing up into the roots of the 
mangrove trees to sleep. Whenever they paused to rest, Ojeda would 
kneel down and pray, and declare that if his life was saved he would 
build a chapel and set the picture of the Virgin Mary among the 
heathen. At last, after thirty days of misery in the swamps, when 
nearly all their men had been drowned, Ojeda and a few survivors 
reached a village of friendly natives, where they were fed and nursed. 

Before they left, Ojeda built a little hut, and put his precious 
picture in it, telling the Indians to take care of it,and he would come 
back some day and build a church. But he never did, nor did he 
have a chance to have any more adventures in search of gold. Though 
he got back to Hispaniola, he found no one who would help him 
again to fit out an expedition. At last he grew tired of trying for 
that, and became a monk. Some histories say that he introduced 
Christianity into Cuba, but there is no record to show that he did 
anything more than leave the picture of the Virgin there. 

One thing in connection with Ojeda's voyages you may remem- 
ber. There went west with him on his first voyage to §outh America, 
a rich merchant of Florence, Italy, whose name was Amerigo Ves- 
pucci. This merchant was so interested in what he saw, especially 
the chance of making money by trading with the innocent natives. 
that he made several other voyages, and gained great profits by them. 
At last, too, he wrote the first book that was ever published about the 
New World. This was written in Latin, and a German scholar who 
prepared it for printing, was so pleased with it that he proposed that 
the name America should be given to the new continent. 

Other people thought this a good idea and so they took up the 
name. Columbus was now gone, he had died friendless and in pov- 
erty, and Vespucci was a rich man whom every one wanted to flatter. 
So the honor which rightfully belonged to Columbus, was given to a 
man who in no way deserved it. 




THE FINDING OF A NEW OCEAN. 

1509—1517. 

HILE Ojeda was struggling with hostile Indians, and 
horrors of starvation at St. Sebastian, an expedition 
was fitting out at Hispaniola to go to his aid. This 
was under the charge of a lawyer named Enciso, who 
had left his business and his briefs in Spain and come 
to the new world on the usual errand — to find gold. 
Ojeda had told him of the new city that he meant to 
build, and had invited him to come and take high office in it. So 
Enciso was going, but his preparations went on slowly. He wanted 
to take supplies and men enough to be of some help in building the 
city, and it took a long time to get them together. At last he was 
ready and started. Ojeda wis at that time dragging himself through 
the swamps of Cuba, but of course, as there were no mails to carry 
news in those days, Enciso knew nothing about that. He set sail • 
under clear skies, and in twenty-four hours was well out at sea. 

On the second day of the voyage the sailors were removing some 
large casks of provisions from the forward deck down into the hold of 
the ship. Suddenly they were startled by hearing something move 
in one of the casks. While they were wondering what it could be, 
the top of the cask was lifted and out came a fine gentleman. His 
velvet coat was somewhat dusty, and his linen was crumpled, but 
the gentleman himself was as jaunty as you please. The sailors soon 
recognized their unexpected visitor. He was Vasco Nunez de Balboa, 
a Spanish gentleman who had lived in Hispaniola. He, like all the 
others, had come from Spain to find gold, but as the precious metal 
was not lying about the streets of the Hispaniola colony, he was 
obliged to earn his bread by giving lessons in fencing. He did not 
have many pupils, and so he had to borrow money from his friends, 
and thus got dreadfully in debt. There was a law in Hispaniola 

35 



36 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

forbidding any one who was in debt to leave the island, but 
Balboa induced a friend to put him in a barrel and roll it on board 
of Enciso's vessel. Probably the friend knew that if he did not 
help Balboa to get away he would have to lend him some more 
money, and thousjht this was a cheap way of getting rid of him. 

Enciso was a lawyer and was not at all pleased at Balboa's 

scheme for evading the law, and threatened to put the young man 

ashore on the next desert island they reached, but Balboa managed 

to talk him into a good humor. And when Enciso learned that his 

new passenger had made a previous voyage along the coast to which 

the vessel was bound, he decided to keep him, believing that he 

would be useful. The expedition went to Carthagena bay, and as they 

entered the harbor they were surprised to see another vessel coming 

in also. Still more astonished were they to find that this vessel 

contained Pizarro and the other men that Ojeda had left at St. 

Sebastian. These had been reduced so such a point of starvation 

that they could not stay any longer. They believed that Ojeda had been 

lost at sea, and resolved to try to save themselves by getting back to 

a Spanish settlement. Enciso, however, insisted on their going back 

to the gulf of Uraba with him. They found that the Indians had 

destroyed the fort that had been built at St. Sebastian, and 

when they tried to rebuild it the natives attacked them so fiercely 

with poisoned arrows that they were obliged to hasten back to their 

ships for saiety. Balboa, who had visited the country before, 

suggested that they should go on to the river Darien where, he said, 

the Indians were not so fierce and did not use poisoned arrows. 

This was accordingly done, and as the Spaniards were able with 

their guns to drive the Indians from one of their villages on the 

river, they took possession of it and were quite comfortable. For 

the natives of this country had good houses built strongly of wood, 

and containing chairs and beds of wood, and good cooking utensils 

carved of wood and stone. 

Enciso gave the village the name of Santa Maria. He now 
ordered that none of his men should trafiic with the Indians for gold. 
The men were angry at this order, especially Balboa, who called 
Enciso a cunning old fox, and began to scheme to get the govern- 
ment away from him. At last Balboa got all the soldiers on his side. 



THE FINDING OF A NEW OCEAN. 37 

Then they gave Enciso the choice of being imprisoned or going back 
to Spain, and he chose the latter, believing that he would find in 
Spain friends powerful enough to help him. 

When Balboa was left in command, the Indians, who wanted to 
have all the Spaniards go, told them that there was another country 
which they called Cueva, thirty leagues to the north, where there 
was 9 great abundance of gold. Balboa went to that country with 
130 men. He found there two Spaniards who had been saved from 
a wreck on the coast and had been kindly treated by the Indians. 
The chief or cacique, who was called Careta, also received Balboa in 
a friendly manner. His kindness was repaid by the return of the 
Spaniards, after a supposed friendly departure, to attack and con- 
quer the town. The two Spaniards who had been saved from death 
by the natives, betrayed the chief into their hands. Balboa took 
Careta, his wives and children, and two vessels loaded with 
plunder, down to Santa Maria. Here he showed the Indians his 
war-horses, (and you must remember that horses had never been 
seen in this country till the Spaniards brought them over), also his 
armor and guns, and Careta was so impressed with his conqueror's 
power that he offered him his daughter as a token of friendship. 
Balboa then married the young girl, and made a bargain with the 
chief by which the Indians were to raise supplies for the colonists, 
and the Spaniards in return would help Careta in fighting a rival 
chief with whom he was at war. Balboa carried out his part of the 
contract, destroyed the other chief and laid waste his country, and in 
return Careta gave him many presents, and took him to visit another 
friendly cacique named Comagre, who gave them both a most hospit- 
able welcome. Balboa was surprised to find that this chief lived in 
a large palace, 150 paces long and eighty broad, surrounded by a 
stone wall and covered with a roof of timber beautifully carved. It 
was divided into many rooms, and had abundant stores of provisions, 
and in one room were kept the dead bodies of the ancestors of the 
chief, which had been dried and embalmed, clothed in mantles em- 
broidered with gold and precious stones, and then hung upon the 
wall with cords. 

The chief Comegra had seven sons, the eldest of whom was a 
young man of high courage and generous spirit. He presented to 



38 



STORIES OF THE THKEE AMERICAS. 



Balboa four thousand ounces of gold made into ornaments. A fifth 
of the metal was set apart for the king, according to the customs of 
the explorers, and in dividing the rest the Spaniards got into a noisy 
quarrel. This astonished the young Indian and disgusted him. He 
knocked over the scales, spilling all the gold upon the floor, and said : 
"What is this, Christians, is it for such a little thing that you quar 
rel? If you are so fond of gold as for its sake to desert your own 
country and disturb the peace of others, I will lead you to a province 




A FOREST OF DARIEN. 



where your utmost desires may be gratified." Beyond the moun- 
tains of the west, he said, there could be seen a mighty sea, on which 
were ships with sails and oars. The people who navigated these 
ships, he said, lived in a country where gold was used for the most 
common vessels, and where it was as plenty as iron in Spain — for the 
Spaniards had told him of the iron of their country, and showed him 
to how many uses it could be put. 

Balboa was deliahterl lo know of the existence of another ocean. 



THE FINDING OF A NEW OCEAN. d9 

He was sure now of discovering the East Indies, which Columbus 
and other explorers had sought for in vain. That the way to this 
new sea was beset with many savage tribes, as Comagre and his sons 
assured him, did not daunt him in the least. He sent for provisions 
and men to Don Diego Columbus, the son of the great discoverer, 
who was then governor of St. Domingo. The large amount of gold 
that he sent, and the extravagant account of the riches of the coun- 
try told by his messengers caused the Spanish people to give the 
region the name of Castila del Oro, or Golden Castile. But word was 
sent to Balboa that Enciso had gone to the king with complaints 
against him, and that he was to be called back to Spain to answer to 
charges before the court. Balboa therefore determined that when 
that order came it should not find him. Without waiting for the 
men and supplies from St. Domingo, he set out upon the search for 
the great ocean with 190 men, about 1,000 friendly Indians, and a 
pack of bloodhounds. These dogs had been trained by the Span- 
iards to hunt down the runaway Indians, and the poor natives were 
dreadfully afraid of them. 

Balboa set forth on his journey Sept. 1, 1513. The Indians told 
him he would come to the great sea in six days. But the march 
was so difficult that it took a much longer time. He had to climb 
high mountains whose sides were covered with dense and matted 
forests. Many of the men gave way under disease and fatigue, and 
had to be sent back to the charge of the friendly Indians. Some very 
unfriendly tribes were met also and the Spaniards had to fight them, 
before they could pass over their land. Only sixty seven of the 
Spaniards were left when, on Sept. 26, 1513, the party approached 
the summit of a mountain, from which the Indians said the great 
sea could be seen. Balboa told his men to halt, and he climbed 
along the last height, from which he saw before him the boundless 
expanse of the western ocean. He knelt down there and offered 
thanks to God for having brought him in safety to this wonderful 
sight. His followers then climbed the point of the mountain also. 
A te deum, or hymn of praise, was sung, and then the explorers took 
formal possession of the land and sea, crosses of stone were erected, 
and the name of the king was cut upon the trees. Some more days 
of travel were needed to reach the shore of the ocean. As he reached 
the coast on St. Michael's day, he named the inlet of the sea there 



40 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

San Miguel, by which name it is still known. Here he waded into 
the water above his knees and took possession of the ocean in the 
name of the King of Spain. (See Frontispiece.) 

The Indians on the western side of the mountains gave Balboa 
even fuller accounts of the great country of gold to the south, but he 
had not men enough to attempt to go and conquer it then. But he 
struggled through the forests back to Santa Maria, carrying with him 
treasures valued at nearly half a million of dollars, and at once sent 
letters to Spain telling of his great discovery. Then he determined 
to build a fleet to explore the ocean. He had the timber cut and 
prepared in the country of his father-in-law, and then carried by the 
Indians over the mountains. Hundreds of the poor creatures broke 
down and died under the labor. At last, however, two vessels were 
completed, in which Balboa visited and explored some islands not 
far off" which he named the Pearl Islands. Bad weather, however, 
prevented his sailing immediately for Peru, the great country of gold. 

But meanwhile Balboa's enemy, Enciso, had secured the 
appointment of another governor in Balboa's place, whose name was 
Dom Pedro D'Avila, but he was generally called Pedrarias. This 
man when he reached Darien sent a messenger for Balboa. The 
explorer was then on the other side of the isthmus, having just 
returned from the Pearl Islands, and went back quite unsuspicious 
of danger. Pedrarias seized him and put him in prison. While 
he was thus confined word came from Spain that the king, having 
heard of Balboa's great discoveries, had signed a paper making him 
assistant in the government. But Pedrarias was determined to get 
him out of the way. He charged him with being a traitor to the 
government, and forced the judge to declare him guilty and pass 
sentence upon him. Balboa had no way of escape from his cruel 
enemy, and so he was condemned and beheaded, with four of his 
friends, in the Indian town of Ada in the province of his father-in- 
law. Thus perished in 1517, one of the bravest of the New World 
explorers, when only forty-two years old. 

It was now twenty-five years since America was discovered. 
The Spaniards had taken possession of almost all the West India 
islands, and had nearly destroyed their native inhabitants. They 
had also made a permanent .settlement on the isthmus of Darien, and 
had found the great Western Ocean, as you have just read. 




THE FIRST VOYAGE ROUND THE AVORLD. 

1498—1522. 

HE success of one man in any difficult work makes all 
meii brave to do hard things. Before the New World was 
found, though the people of Europe were very anxious to 
find a passage to India by sea, they had not yet discov- 
ered the easiest passage thither, by sailing around the 
lower part of Africa. They had tried to find that way 
several times, and had sailed many miles down the Afri- 
can coast, but as they did not know how far Africa extended to the 
south, they always became frightened and came home without find- 
ing its soubhern point. But after Columbus and his companions had 
made their way westward over the trackless ocean, every sailor felt 
his heart grow bold, and he was eager to take long voyages in search 
of strange countries. 

You remember how meanly the Portuguese ruler. King John, 
acted toward Columbus, how he tried to steal Columbus' plan of a 
voyage, but failed because his sailors were too cowardly to follow it 
out. And then when he heard of the great discovery that Columbus 
had made, he was filled with shame and rage. This king died three 
years later, but his successor, Den Manuel, was eager to make dis- 
coveries. In 1498, he sent out Vasco de Gama to try again for the 
eastern passage to India. De Gama did try and was successful in 
rounding the Cape of Good Hope, and finding his way up through 
the Indian Ocean; he visited the country of India and the adjacent 
islands, and then came home the same way that he went. 

In 1500, an expedition under an adventurous nobleman, Dom 
Pedro Cabral, was sent out by the king, to go to India by the route 
that De Gama had found. Great things were expected of this expe- 
dition, for the pope had blessed a cap and sent it to Cabral to wear to 
bring him good luck. But when these vessels had passed the Cape 



42 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

Verde Islands, a strong wind drove them away from Africa, and 
across the Atlantic, to the shores of what they thought was a large 
island. Great bands of natives came to meet the strangers, whose 
appearance was so strange that the Portuguese were much amazed — 
for ihese people wore no clothing, but had their gkins painted with 
bright colors, and had bunches of gay colored feathers in their hair. 
Dom Pedro Cabral did not fight these strangers, he merely gave them 
some beads in exchange for fruit and corn, and told them that they 
were from that time to be the subjects of the King of Portugal, and 
as they could nox in the least understand what he said, they proba- 
bly were not much impressed by the statement. Dom Cabral then 
turned his ship eastward and went on to India by way of the south 
point of Africa. But when he had come home and told the king of 
the western land he had visited, another royal expedition was sent 
that year, and after its return the next year, still another was dis- 
patched. Both of these expeditions were under Amerigo Vespucci. 
Much of the coast was explored by these expeditions and they found 
some new and valuable things, dye-woods and spices and fruits and 
monkeys and parrots which they took home with them. Among 
other things they found great quantities of a bright, red wood, to use 
for dyeing. This the Portuguese called brazil, or burning, wood, so 
the name Brazil was given to the new country. But these explorers 
found things in the new land less agreeable than dyewoods and 
monkeys; they found cannibals, who, if they caught a sailor, insisted 
upon roasting and eating him. So explorers, much as they wanted 
to get the valuable things that grew in Brazil, were rather slow about 
paying visits to the cannibals. 

There was some dispute now, between Spain and Portugal, as to 
which one this new land belonged. The pope who, in those old 
days, was not satisfied with telling people when they should go to 
church and fast, and threatening them with dire punishment if they 
did not obey him, but who wanted to have the right to distribute 
the countries of the world at his pleasure, this great personage 
had divided all the lands, discovered and andiscovered, in the New 
World, between Spain and Portugal. He fixed as a boundary a line run- 
ning from the north pole to the south pole, three hundred leagues west 
of the Azores. All the country on the east of this line was given to 



THE FIRST VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. 



43 



Portugal, and all on the west to Spain. Now you may understand 
why it was that the English people, the most adventurous race in the 
world, were so slow in following up the discoveries in the New 
World. They did not want to offend either the Spaniards or the 
Portuguese, and get into a war with them, and besides, they had 
been used to paying almost as much deference as other people to 
the laws of the pope. 
To be sure, before 
the diviaion above 
spoken of had been 
made, the Cabots 
had made a couple 
of voyages, but aft- 
er that England 
rather held off from 
helping explorers 
from motives of 
policy, and France 
was inactive for the 
same reason. 

There was at 
this time a daring 
Portuguese marin- 
er, Ferdinand de 
Magellan, who had 
joined the service of 
Spain, rather than 
that of his own 
country, because he 
was promised great- 
er rewards there. 

He was a shrewd man, and fully understood the shape of the earth, 
and the principles of navigation. He was quite sure that the 
Molucca and Spice Islands, which had been reached by Vasco de 
Gama by going around Africa, could be reached by sailing westward, 
and thus could be made to come in the pope's gift of the new world 
to Spain. So he induced the government and some wealthy men to 




FERDINAND DE MAGELLAN. 



44 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

fit out an expedition for this purpore. It had five ships and two- 
hundred and thirty-six men and these set sail from the harbor of 
Seville in 1519. He followed the line of Vespucci's voyage westward, 
reached Brazil, and cruised along its coast southward, until he came 
to a great opening in the land. This delighted the eager navigator 
very much, for he thought that he had now found the western passage 
to India. But, after sailing into this gulf he discovered that its 
waters were fresh, so he knew that it could not be an arm of the ocean, 
and finding by going further that the narrowing banks proved it to be 
only a river, he hurried back to the sea again. He had no desire to 
make the acquaintance of the naked savages that flocked down to 
the shore to watch his vessels, for his sailors .jaid these natives were 
cannibals. If you will look on your maps of South America you 
will recognize the gulf that deceived Magellan, which was the mouth 
of the Rio de la Plata. 

Many miles farther to the south Magellan brought his ships to 
anchor on the coast, and sent a band of men on shore to get fresh 
water. These men came back after a time, in great alarm, telling of 
some enormous beings they had seen, who had flat broad feet like 
those of dogs. These natives came down to the seashore and looked 
at the ship. They were, indeed, very tall and large, and as Magellan 
could not see their feet very well at that distance, he took it for 
granted that the story told by the frightened sailors was true, and 
called the country Patagonia, meaning the land of the pad-footed 
race. It was many years before the Patagonian land was explored, 
and then it was found that the people there had feet just like other 
human beings. Either the men with feet like dogs had all died off, 
or Magellan's sailors had been so frightened when they went ashore 
there that they did not know what they saw. We know that a little 
scare will explain many a wonderful traveler's tale. 

When Magellan had reached the southern point of the Patago- 
nian land he passed through a strait which he called the Strait of the 
Eleven Thousand Virgins. But geographers have always called it 
the Strait of Magellan. To the south he saw a bare island; on this 
island was a volcano, which was sending out volumes of smoke, and 
he called it Terra del Fuego, or the land of fire. The ships were 
twenty days in passing through these straits, for the sea was rough, 



THE FIRST VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 



45 



and the danger of being wrecked on the rocky shore was very great. 
If Magellan had only sailed some miles farther to the south, around 
the " island of fire," he would have had an easier passage. He would 
then have passed around the southernmost point of land in the New 
World — Cape Horn. It was sixty years after Magellan's voyage 
before this cape was first seen. In 1G09 a Dutch sailor rounded it 
and called it Cape Hoorn from the town of " Hoorn," in Holland, 
where he was born. But it is now generally called Cape Horn. 

At last the vessels came out on a broad and boundless ocean. 
This was the great ocean which Balboa had seen, and Pizarro tried to 
navigate in little boats. Magellan 
found its waters so peaceful that he 
named it the Pacific Ocean. Then 
Magellan sailed to the northwest, 
and though his voyage was not dis- 
turbed by storms, he and his soldiers 
suffered very much for lack of water 
and provisions. Day after day, they 
sailed on, with nothing to see but a 
broad expanse of water and sky. 
The sailors were even more discour- 
aged, no doubt, than those of Co- 
lumbus, but no one thought of 
turning back, as they felt that it 
was safer to go on. At last they 
reached some beautiful fertile 
islands, covered with trees bearing 
fruits of all kinds. They went 
ashore here and bargained with the 

natives for food, and when their hunger was relieved they felt 
better. These natives were not at all shy and wanted to go on 
board the ships, but when they were permitted to do so they 
stole everything they could lay their hands on. So Magellan, 
when he sailed away from the islands called them the Ladrones, 
which means "the robbers." So the vessels sailed on till they 
reached other islands which they called the Philippines in hon- 
or of King Philip of Spain, and here they landed and stayed 




CAPE HORN. 



46 



STORIES OP THE THREE AMERICAS. 



some time. They had got into trouble with the natives at last, and in 
a fight Magellan was killed. So the sailors thought it was time for 
them to try to get home again. Their ships by this time had become 
so worn, that only one seemed strong enough to trust to the mercy of 
winds and waves. In this, all the sailors who were left embarked, 
and going by way of the Moluccas, to get a small cargo of spices, 
they took their way homeward. They crossed the Indian Ocean, 
went round Africa, and reached Seville, September 7, 1522. They 
had been away three years and twenty- eight days, and in that time 
had done what no one before them had ever accomplished, they had 
sailed all the way round the globe. 





THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH. 

1512. 

N THE story of Columbus we learned that in his time there 
existed beliefs in many strange and impossible things. 
People were just beginning to learn and had heard of so 
many wonders that nothing seemed impossible. A marvel 
that many believed in was what they called "the philoso- 
pher's stone," one that would turn every thing it touched 
to gold; and precious years were spent in looking for it. 
It must surely exist, men said, for it had been found orce by a poor 
philosopher. This man had been hunting for years through one 
rocky field after another, testing each stone as he found it by rubbing 
it on a piece of metal which he held in one hand. He had become 
so used to the action of throwing the stone away each time that when, 
at the touch of one, the iron turned to shining gold, habit was too 
strong for him and before he could stop himself that stone went 
after the rest, and hunt as he would, it was never found again. 

Another wonder for which men had sought through all the 
known countries was the Fountain of Youth. The poets had sung 
of this wonderful fount, wherein one grown old and weak could 
bathe and find himself young and strong again ; but no one could 
find it. When the New World was discovered, with its beauty and 
gold, not even the wildest fairy stories seemed too wonderful for 
belief and the people were not surprised to find that among the 
Indians there was a legend like their own about this wonderful 
fountain. They were all too busy, however, hunting for gold to pay 
much heed to this story except one man. This man was Ponce de 
Leon. He was the first Spaniard who landed in what is now the 
United States and it would be interesting for you to know about him, 
and why it was he kept in mind the story of the Fountain of Youth 
Ponce de Leon was a cavalier or nobleman of Spain. His home, 

47 



48 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

as his name tells, was in Leon, the province that first belonged to 
King Ferdinand alone. Columbus' friend Isabella was queen of 
Castile before her marriage, and by far the greater number of Colum- 
bus' followers were Castilians, but the cavalier of whom we are speak- 
ing was one of the few from Leon. De Leon sailed with Columbus 
on his second voyage and proved himself a brave soldier. At the 
time of this second voyage, or even by a third or fourth, people knew 
but little of the New World beyond the West India Islands. These 
were taken possession of, one by one, by some daring captain whose 
reward would be the governorship of the island. 

Whether De Leon had come out, as so many of the cavaliers did, 
to mend his fortunes, we are not sure, we only know that, unlike 
most adventurers, he was an old man. He may have come to win 
power'and fame, for soon after he made his first visit to the Indies 
he landed in Porto Rico with a band of followers and, subduing the 
poor Indians who inhabited it, was made governor. 

It was a fruitful island and here, as in other places, the Spaniards 
took advantage of their superior strength to make the Indians work 
for them, and before many years De Leon was as rich as his wildest 
dreams could have made him. Still he was not happy, for with all 
his good fortune he was growing old and saw only too plainly he 
would not have long to enjoy his wealth. 

Now the story he had so often heard of the fountain which 
would restore his vanished youth seemed always in his mind and he 
asked of the Indian slaves where it was to be found. For answer 
they always pointed to the northwest. At length something hap- 
pened which decided De Leon to go on a voyage to the northwest. 
Through some mischance his ofiice was taken from him and either 
through his fault or misfortune the old man found himself in trouble 
and disgrace. His plans were soon made. He would use his great 
fortune to fit out an expedition to seek this fount which would not 
only restore his youth but render his name famous. 

In the spring of 1512 he set sail for the Bahamas. There was 
no sign of the fount there, old people were there just as in any 
other place and they knew of no way to grow young. So De Leon 
sailed on and one Easter morning early in April he anchored on the 



IHE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH. 



49 



shore of a beautiful land of flowers. Because of its beauty as well as 
from the day, which the Spanish call Pascua Florida, De Leon called 
this new land Florida. If you look on the map for the city of St. 
Augustine you will find the place where this visionary old man first 
looked for the fountain of youth in this land of flowers. He explored 
the coast from this place toward the south, rounding the cape and 
finally reaching the Tortugas or Tortoise Islands. 

He found forests close and dense, with many trees such as he 
had never seen before, many of them laden with beautiful, sweet- 
smelling flowers. He found wide, impassable swamps with many 
strange beasts and birds therein, but there was no sign or token of 
the beautiful Fountain of Youth. But he would not give up, and he 
returned to Porto Rico with his mind intent upon a farther search. 
On reaching home the aged explorer sent a report of his voyage 
to the king, and Ferdinand, ever ready to aid where it would add to 
his own power, gave him leave to explore wherever he wanted, and 
appointed him governor of whatever lands he should conquer. We 
do not know whether De Leon told the king of 
the Fountain of Youth, but that was the first 
thought in the old man's mind when, after eight 

weary years of preparation, he again set sail 

for Florida, the land of flowers. Many things 

had happened in those years. The Spanish 

king had given permission to his people to 

enslave the Indians as much as they wished 

so they had begun to sell them, stealing them 

away from their homes whenever they could. 

One man named De Ayllon went to the land 

which De Leon had discovered and persua- 
ded the Indians to come on his 

ship to visit him. As soon as a 

great many had come, he sud- 
denly set sail and carried them 

away for slaves. Their friends 

on the land were very angry at 

this and did not want to see any 

more white men. a Florida swamp. 



'-^c^ 




50 STOrjES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

De Leon came again the very next year and the Indians, still 
mourning their lost friends, tried to drive the strangers away. The 
sailors resisted and in the battle De Leon was shot with an arrow. 
The sailors hurried to the ship carrying their leader with them and 
set sail for home. De Leon did not live long after this. Disappointed 
in his search for youth and glory, he died as much from grief as from 
the pain of his wounds, and after this no one sought again for the 
Fountain of Youth. 




SPONGl FROM THE FLORIDA COAST, 




THE FIRST SEARCH FOR THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE. 

1498—1523. 

OU will remember that Columbus, while he was still vainly 
asking for aid in his search for the New World, sent his 
brother Bartholomew to the English king, Henry VII, on 
the same errand. But King Henry was a man w ho never 
wasted his money, and as the wise men of his court scoffed 
at the idea of another world beyond the seas, he would 
not have anything to do with the plans of Columbus. 
But when the new world was found by the Spaniards, then he was 
vexed enough that he had no share in the glory of the discovery. 

There was at that time in Bristol, England, a merchant who had 
come from Venice. His name in the Venetian language was Zuan 
Cabato, but the English translated it into John Cabot. This man 
had been a sailor in years past, and had crossed the Mediterranean 
Sea many times. He had visited the provinces of the north of Africa 
and of Asia Minor, and had been to Mecca in Arabia, where he had 
seen caravans of traders bringing spices from India. He asked these 
men where they got their spices, and they told him that they bought 
them from men of other caravans who brought them from other 
countries still farther to the east. Cabot then concluded that India, 
where these spices were said to grow, must be in the most eastern part 
of Asia, and as he had studied geography enough to be sure that the 
earth was round like a globe, he was certain that one could reach 
India by sailing westward. 

When John Cabot heara of the success of Columbus he was 
eager to try a voyage of discovery also. So he applied to King Henry 
for permission to go, and the king gave him " a patent " as they 
called it, permitting him and his three sons " to sail to all parts and 
continents and seas, of the East, West and North." They were 
empowered to find new lands which were to be added to the domin- 



52 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

ions of his most gracious majesty, the king. Really, there was no 
reason why the merchant should not have started on this expedition 
of discovery without this gracious permission, far he was obliged to 
bear all the expenses of the trip — the king being too stingy to risk 
money on it, though he kindly promised that if the Cabots found any 
gold or other valuable things, they might take enough of these to pay 
the cost of the journey, before giving the rest to the king. In those 
times kings loved to pretend that they owned all their subjects, and 
would not let them leave the country or undertake any important 
work without royal permission. 

Now John Cabot, though he had lived in Bristol some years, was 
a native of Italy, and had been a citizen of Venice before coming to 
England. It was in Venice that the most gifted of his sons, Sebas- 
tian, was born. Both father and son were acquainted with naviga- 
tion, and though, of course, they knew nothing of the formation of 
the land of the New World, they fancied that the Spaniards were 
making a mistake in looking toward the south for a way to India. 
They would sail to the northward, they said, where they believed a 
passage could be found. And thus began that great search, tried 
again and again for 350 years at the cost of the lives of hundreds of 
brave men, whose object proved to be of no use to any one when it 
was at last found, — the search for the northwest passage. 

John Cabot set sail in the spring of 1497. His son Sebastian 
was with him; a young man not more than twenty years old, but 
brave and wise far beyond his years. The expedition went from 
Bristol to Iceland, and then west. June 24, land was seen, which was 
found to be part of an extensive country. It was indeed the great 
continent of North America, and after the Norse-king's fleeting and 
forgotten visits, this was the first discovery of a continent destined to 
bear a wonderful part in the history of the world. The part of the 
coast seen was Labrador. Cabot had hoped that he could make his 
way direct to India, but after following the coast line and finding 
that it stretched a long distance to the north, he was, as he says, 
" filled with much displeasure." On the land he saw " white bears, 
and stagges greater than the English." After sailing northward some 
time, a large inlet was found running into the land. This was the 
inlet leading into Hudson's Bay. Cabot entered it joy fully, believing 



THE FIRST SEARCH FOR THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE. 



53 



that he had found the passage to the Indies, but his sailors did not 
share his hopes. They were very discontented and before they had 
gone far on the waters of this strait they became so mutinous that 
Cabot was compelled to turn his ship around, and sail back to Eng- 
land again. 

There were no profits from this voyage, and the king was not at 
all pleased, but in the next year he gave a warrant to the Cabots to 
take "six shippes" for another voyage. The king ofi'ered to help in 
getting up this expedition. While it was in preparation John Cabot 
died, but Sebastian was so filled with desire to find the passage that 
the good old man had so strongly believed in, that he weni on with 
the work of getting the "shippes" 
ready, and sailed in 1499. He 
took three hundred men with him 
this time, and went to the same 
coast that he had visited before. 
Here he left part of his men to 
form a colony, and went farther 
north to seek for the passage. 
This time he pushed northward 
into the water now known as 
Davis' Strait, but he was stopped 
by the ice there, and forced to go 
back. Returning to his colony 
he met with another disappoint- 
ment, for the men there had suf- 
fered so much from cold and hunger that they had not had courage 
to explore the country or cut down trees to build more comfortable 
houses; they had just given way to their misery and homesickness, 
and had laid down in their miserable huts and many of them had 
died. Cabot then took the remaining ones on board his ship again 
and cruised as far south as Cape Florida and then went back to 
England. 

When King Henry found that Cabot had again come home 
without having found the way to India, he was very angry and 
treated the brave captain very coldly. He was even mean enough to 
refuse to pay as much of the cost of the expedition as he had prom- 




N HUDSON STRAIT. 



54 STORIES OF THE TH REE AMERICAS. 

ised because he said his agreement had been made with the elder 
Cabot, and not with the young man. And when the next year Cabot 
said that he would make another voyage if the king would help him, 
his royal highness sullenly refused. So Cabot fitted out a ship and 
went out to make discoveries "on his own hook," but we fancy that 
he was not able to make a long voyage, for history does not tell us 
where he went or what he did. We think, however, that he did not 
give up his faith in a northwest passage, but he had not money 
enough at that time to fit out any more vessels of discovery. 

We do not know very well what Cabot did between 1500 and 
1512 but it is probable that when he was not journeying about he 
was looking after the business that his father left in England. Henry 
VII had died, and Ferdinand of Spain, who was becoming very 
jealous of other kings that tried to make discoveries and gain domin- 
ion in the N^w World, was afraid that the new king, young Henry 
VIII, would employ Cabot to carry on further explorations. So 
King Ferdinand sent for him, and employed him for several years 
revising maps and charts of the discoveries that had been made by 
Columbus and others. Then in 1516 the king planned another 
expedition to make farther search for the passage to India, and told 
Cabot that he must prepare to go as captain. But Ferdinand died 
before the expedition was ready. His successor was his daughter 
Jaana, who was insane most of the time, and Cardinal Ximenes was 
made regent. Ximenes said he had not the authority or means to 
fit out the ships, and the voyage was given up. Cabot then went to 
England, and the king gave him help enough to make one ship 
ready for a voyage. Again he went to the Labrador coast, and sailed 
north into the wide inlet of water running into the land. Again, 
after several days sailing up this bay, his men refused to go any 
farther. Cabot was quite angry with them, and would have insisted 
upon their obeying orders and going on, but his second in command, 
who had been appointed by the king to help him, took part with the 
mutinous sailors, and Cabot was obliged to go home again without 
having gained the object of his hopes. Whether he gave up the idea 
of the possible northwest passage or not, we do not know, but we 
know that he never had an opportunity to search for it again. 

Would you not like to know some more of Sebastian Cabot? 



THE FIRST SEARCH FOR THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE. 



55 



He was a remarkable man in his time, and, indeed, he was a man of 
whom it is worth while to know, as his virtues and courage would 
have made him a remarkable man in any time. 

When he came back to England from his third unsuccessful 
voyage, there was a dreadful sickness raging in that country, and no 
one would take any interest in voyages. And soon after this, the 
grandson of Ferdinand, Charles V, having come to the Spanish 
throne, sent for Cabot, and made him pilot major of Spain, with rank 
of captain, and a good salary. And after a few more years, in 1523^ 
another expedition was planned to go to the New World, and Cabot 
was to go with it. The plan 

was to go to the Molucca ^vs........,.: 

Islands. Portugal said that $^ 
was her territory, and the 
Spanish must not go to it. 
You know that the pope had 
made a division of the territory 
of the New World, and had 
declared that all on one side 
of a certain line belonged to 
Portugal and all on the other 
side to Spain. So a great 
council of navigators was held 
at Badajos in 1524, and Cabot 
was one of them, and it was 
decided that the Molucca Is- 
lands belonged to Spain. 

This made the Portuguese government very angry, and they 
determmed to harm the expedition all that they could. They first 
had three men, enemies of Cabot, made part of the crew. But when 
these men became mutinous Cabot promptly had them arrested and 
put them ashore on the next island they reached. This was off the 
coast of Brazil. Cabot wanted to explore the great La Plata river 
though he knew that the man who had been pilot major before him' 
De Solis, had been murdered by the Indians there. So he sailed 
boldly up the river. When he came to the place where the La Plata 
becomes the Parana river, he left a few men and a ship there and 




SEBASTIAN CABOT. 



56 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

went up the river in small boats. A short distance up he built a fort 
on the shore, left part of his men there and went on. Thus far Cabot 
had had no trouble with the Indians, for he treated them kindly and 
forbade his men to be cruel towards them. But after he had come 
to the mouth of the Paraguay and had sailed a number of miles up 
this stream, a brutal act of one of the men brought a whole army of 
the natives against them. Cabot was obliged to fight now to save his 
small force from being destroyed, and with such courage and skill did 
he manage his men that though three hundred of the Indians fell, 
only twenty -five of the Spaniards were killed. 

Now after Cabot had left Spain, the Portuguese government had 
sent after him Diego Garcia, instructed to harass him in every way. 
This man reached the little band on the La Plata the day after the 
fight with the Indians. He set himself to work to create discontent 
among the sailors. So Cabot soon saw that it would be best for him 
to break off his explorations and go home to get a larger force. He 
was convinced that if he pushed far enough into the new country by 
this way, he would find the rich country of Peru, or another like it. 
But he knew that it would be madness to run the risk of assault by 
unfriendly natives, and of treachery on the part of his men. So he 
went back, but his enemies had gained power with the government, 
and though he was restored to the office of pilot major, he never 
could induce anyone to aid him in carrying on his discoveries. He 
then returned to England, where he lived to be an old man, and was 
very highly honored for his bravery and sound wisdom. He lived 
to be about eighty years old, but the date of his death, and the place 
of his burial, are quite unknown to this day. 




HOW THE SPANIARDS ENTERED MEXICO. 

1519-1520. 

'he natives of the New World were, of course, very ignorant 
of the customs of what was called civilization, but they 
were simple minded, kindly, and honorable, and they 
could not understand the greed and avarice of the white 
men who had come among them. Why these strangers 
should leave their own homes and come to the New World 
to murder and destroy a people that had never done them 
any harm, just for the sake of a poor cheap thing like gold, which 
they could neither eat, drink nor wear, this was something that puz- 
zled the innocent Indians very much. A little incident is told of 
them which shows this. 

When the Spaniards had taken possession of Hispaniola, or St. 
Domingo, the natives of the neighboring island of Cuba naturally 
expected that their country would be soon invaded also, by these 
strangers. So one of the chiefs sent a messenger secretly to His- 
paniola, to find out all he could of the new people. When this 
man had come back, bringing full report of what the white men had 
done, the chief listened with great interest. Soon after, he called his 
people together, and placed before them a basket heaped up with 
trinkets and carvings of gold. "Behold," he said, "this is the god 
which the white man worships. Let us, therefore, offer prayers to 
this god, that when the white man comes, he will not be allowed to 
murder and torture us." After these prayers had been performed, 
the chief again said : " Now it is of no use to conceal this god of the 
white men, for they will find it even though it were hidden in the 
inmost parts of our bodies, but we will put it out of his way entirely," 
and with that the chief ordered the gold sunk out of signt in the 
river. 

Do you want to know what became of this poor foolish chief, 
who thought that prayers ofiered to senseless trinkets would do him 

57 



58 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

good? Of course the white man came to his country at last, and of 
course they plundered him of every thing that he had, and set him 
to work as a slave. He could not submit to this patiently, so he was 
beaten cruelly, and at last was put to death. 

The men who, with Ojeda, struggled through the swamps of 
Darien, as I have before told you, were the first to bring back the 
story of a wonderful country of gold, called El Dorado. There, they 
said, gold was so plenty Ihat even the common people ate and drank 
from golden vessels. The king and his attendants of the court lived 
in a great palace all covered with gold so that it shone like the sun, 
and the monarch and all the great people wore for their daily gar- 
ments robes embroidered in cloth of gold. Many more wonderful 
stories were told of this country of gold, and, of course, as they were 
repeated such stories did not lose anything in the telling, so that when 
they got back to Hispaniola and to Spain, they set men wild with 
eagerness to go in search of this wonderful country. Many who went 
on this quest met with terrible hardships and yet found no gold at 
all, but gome secured great wealth. Now, though it seems probable 
that the natives who told these stories to the Spaniards hardly be- 
lieved them themselves, but exaggerated them intentionally, wanting 
to deceive the cruel Spaniards and make them go away from their 
country, yet it was found that there were two countries in the New 
World where gold was very plentiful. One of these was the country 
of Anahuac in Mexico, and the other was the country of the Incas in 
Peru. The story of the conquest of these countries by the Spaniards 
is one of horrible cruelty and bloodshed, in which, we grieve to say, 
the avarice and brutality of man justified itself on the plea of acting 
in the name of the holy religion of Christ. 

The first explorer on the Mexican coast was Francisco Cordova, 
who landed on the coast of Yucatan in 1517. He wished to explore 
the country, but the natives resisted his progress, and in a battle 
with them was so badly wounded that he died soon after he got back 
to Cuba. The governor of Cuba at that time was Velasquez, who, in 
the following year, sent his nephew, Juan de Grijalva, to complete 
Cordova's discoveries. Grijalva sailed in the spring of 1518, and 
going north of the point where Cordova landed, came to the shores 
of what is now known as Mexico. The natives he found there 



HOW THE SPANIARDS ENTERED MEXICO. 



59 



received him in a most friendly manner, and brought to him many 
presents of carved gold and beautiful jewels. When Grij^lva had 
returned to Cuba and displayed these beautiful things, men there 
thought that the El Dorado had been found and were eage:: to go to 
the country of gold. 

There was in Cuba at this time a Spanish gentleman named 
Hernando Cortez. He was the son of a wealthy family and had been 
a law student, but he left his studies when only nineteen years old 
and went out to Hispaniola, eager to take part in the new adventures 
and to find great wealth. 
Even as a youth he show- 
ed the qualities which 
marked him so plainly 
in later years — wonderful 
courage, remarkable tal- 
ent in governing men, 
and great cruelty. He 
was avaricious too, but 
not so greedy in his avar- 
ice as many others were, 
since he really cared more 
for power than he did for 
wealth. When he reach- 
ed HJFpaniola the Span- 
ish settlers there were 
having trouble because of 
a rebellion of the natives, 
and he showed so much 
courage in aiding to quell 
the revolt, that he was 
regarded as a very useful 

member of the colony. He meant to leave the island with Ojeda's 
expedition, you remember, but was prevented by sickness. When 
Velasquez went to conquer Cuba, Cortez was one of his lieutenants, 
and when the natives were subdued, he was made mayor of a new 
city that the Spanish founded. And now when Velasquez was about 
to send an expedition to explore the country that Grijalva had visited, 




HERNANDO CORTEZ. 



60 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

he could think of no one so fit to command it as Cortez. This officer 
was very ready to take charge of the expedition, and eagerly helped 
in the fitting out of the ship. Indeed, he was so enthusiastic that 
the governor became afraid that this young explorer would want to 
take for himself all the glory and gold to be won in the land of the 
El Dorado. And so, when everything was ready, and the ships were 
weighing anchor to leave the harbor, Cortez received an order from 
Velasquez revoking his commission. But Cortez was not a man to 
give up his wishes easily. He wanted to go with this expedition 
and so he went, paying no attention to the governor's order. He 
commanded that the vessels should set sail, and soon they were on 
the broad ocean, and out of the reach of Velasquez. 

I have spoken of the Aztec Indians that lived in Mexico. There 
were other native tribes that lived there also, but the Aztecs were the 
most powerful and by far the most civilized. The country of Ana- 
huac, which they chiefly inhabited, had been divided into three king- 
doms— Tezcuco, Tlascala and Mexico, or Mexitli. The Tezcucans 
lived eastward of the territory of the Mexicans and had been at war 
with them for many years, until, a short time before the coming of 
the Spaniards, their king had been conquered by Montezuma, the 
Mexican king, and had died in captivity. The Mexican ruler, Monte- 
zuma, had taken possession of the Tezcucan country, and had renewed 
war with the Tlascalans, hoping to overthrow them also. 

Montezuma was very proud of his conquests and had taken a 
title meaning " king over all other kings." But when he heard of a 
company of strange men that had landed on his coast, white like the 
sun, who were mounted upon strange prancing animals, men who 
killed their enemies without spears or arrows, with strange weapons 
that struck no blow, but made a dreadful noise and smoke — he was 
very much frightened. In the traditions of the country there was an 
old prophecy which foretold the coming of a race of men from the 
east the children of the sun, who would overthrow the Aztec empire. 
Montezuma, as soon as he heard of the coming of the white men, was 
sure that these were the destined conquerors, and the determination 
with which they pushed into the country, overthrowing all who 
opposed them, made him more and more sure of it. 

This fact explains many actions of this ruler, which look like 



HOW THE SPANIARDS ENTERED MEXICO. 61 

cowardice, but only came from the belief— so strong among ignorant 
people — that it is of no use to struggle against fate. 

Cortez first heard of Montezuma when he had landed his men at 
a place which he called Vera Cruz, and founded a settlement there. 
Soon after, some messengers from the ruler came to ask what 
they had come to his coasts for. Cortez said that his king had sent 
him to visit Montezuma. This, he was told, was impossible, but he 
insisted, and had all his troops drawn up, with his cavalry, and had 
all the cannon fired off, so as to make a great impression upon the 
king's messengers. He told them to tell Montezuma that another 
reason why he had come to the Mexican country, was because he and 
his companions had a complaint of the heart that could only be 
cured by gold. The king's messengers went back, and Cortez waited 
at Vera Cruz. In a few weeks the messengers came from Montezuma 
again. They said that the strangers could not see their king, but he 
had sent to them a large sum of gold, and many beautiful jewels and 
bade them go in peace to their own country. 

Alas! these rich presents which the poor Indians sent to the 
Spaniards, in the hope of freeing themselves from these dangerous 
visitors, only insured their own destruction. For that complaint of the 
heart which cries out for gold is like the thirst of the drunkard— the 
more that is given to satisfy it, the more unsatisfied it becomes. 
Cortez, on seeing the gold sent by the Mexican emperor, was deter- 
mined to conquer that ruler, and that no one of his followers might 
turn back from the undertaking, whatever dangers they might meet, 
and safely set sail again for Spain, it is said that he burned all of his 
ships. Then he left a small part of his force at Vera Cruz, and, with 
the others and with his horses and cannon, he started for the Mexican 
capital. After a few days' march they reached the table-land of Tlas- 
cala. The Tlascala people were then at war with Mexico, as we have 
said. They were a rich and powerful race, and their capital city was 
a large and well built town, surrounded by a wall six miles in cir- 
cumference, nine feet high and twenty broad. They met Cortez in a 
war-like manner, but in their second battle with him, though they 
brought against him a force many times greater than his own, he was 
able with the help of his cannon and his horses to gain a complete 
victory over them. Then he formed an alliance with them because 



62 STORIES OF TFIE THREE AMERICAS. 

they were enemies of the M» xicans, and several thousand of their 
foldiers joined him on his march toward the great city of Mexico. 

When they were yet several days distant from the place other 
envoys from Montezuma met them. These were sent to tell the 
strangers again that they could not see Montezuma, and to offer them 
more abundant gifts of gold than before, begging them to go away. 
The sight of gol 1, however, was like blood to the tiger, it only whetted 
their appetite fur more, and indeed, the king's messengers might as 
well have reasoned with a tiger as with these heartless, greedy men. 
They pushed on day by day over the beautiful smooth roads that 
had been cut over the mountains by the Mexican kings. Here and 
there were stone buildings made for the convenience of travelers. 
Every once in a while they came to a narrow place which was filled 
with huge stones and great trees, placed there by order of Montezuma 
in the hope of stopping the onward march of the invaders. These 
only delayed the Spaniards a few hours, for with the help of their 
horses they dragged the obstacles from the road and hurled them 
down the side of the mountain. Then they pushed on again, and at 
last they came to a point where they could look down into the great 
valley in which was the ciiy of Mexico. The sight of the beautiful 
city, with its glistening white buildings of stone, situated in the 
middle of a lake, and connected by causeways with the land, its 
temples and buildings reflected in the lake's clear water, was so 
wonderful and lovely that the soldiers stood still and asked one 
another if they were awake. The view seemed to them like a dream 
or like a story of enchantment. 




HOW MEXICO WAS CONQUERED. 

1520—1521. 

T WAS on the 8th of November, 1519, that Cortez entered 
the city of Mexico. Montezuma, having found it was of no 
use to try to keep these strangers from his city, consented 
to receive them. So Cortez, mounted on his finest horse, 
and with all the trapping and adornments that he could 
muster, went out to meet the king. Montezuma was carried 
on a chair under a canopy of feathers, embroidered with 
precious stones. He wore a mantle decorated with gold and 
pearls. This king was a tall, thin, dark man, with a very dignified 
manner. Cortez, dismounting, advanced to meet him, and was 
received with much courtesy. The Spaniards were then led into a 
great hall where a rich feast was spread before them, and then pres- 
ents of gold and fine robes were given to them by order of the king. 
All the great people of Mexico, the Spaniards noticed, wore cotton 
robes of delicate fibre and brilliant colors. The Spaniards then 
entertained the Mexicans with cavalry maneuvers, and fired ofif their 
guns and cannon, which frightened the people very much. 

The next morning Montezuma received Cortez in the palace. 
The Spaniard wished to give the Mexican some teaching in the 
Christian religion, which he did by means of a young girl who had 
been given him by the Tlascalan king, and who had learned the 
Spanish tongue sufficiently to act as interpreter. Montezuma list- 
ened patiently to what Cortez had to say, though he plainly did 
not understand it very well. He was very polite, however ; he said 
the Spaniard's God was good, no doubt, but so was the god of the 
Mexicans. He recognized, he said, that the Spaniards were the chil- 
dren of the sun which made the world, and was therefore ready to 
to do them honor. 

The Spaniards were feasted and given the freedom of the city for 



64 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

a week. Cortez went everywhere, observing carefully what means of 
defence and what provision for warfare the people had. He was even 
allowed to visit the temples of the Aztec gods, and when he found 
that human sacrifices were offered to the idols he was much shocked, 
and was more determined than ever to conquer the Mexicans and 
force them to accept the true religion. There seems to be no doubt, 
that the religion of the Aztecs sanctioned or required human sacri- 
fices. But we must remember that the stories of the cruel customs 
of the Mexicans all come to us from the Spaniards, whose object was 
to make these people seem as wicked as possible, to justify their own 
acts of oppression and cruelty. 

The Mexicans wanted the Spaniards to go away. The king 
offered them a safe conduct to the coast, and loaded them down with 
presents , but these gifts, which were intended to make the white men 
feel satisfied and depart, only made them hungrier and greedier than 
ever, and more anxious to stay and rob the poor Mexicans of all that 
they possessed. Still, Cortez did not feel very safe. He could not 
restrain his followers from cruel plundering acts, and he feared that, 
any day, the people might rise against him and kill him and his sol- 
diers. There were tens of thousands of the Mexicans and only about 
two hundred of the S paniards. Another reason why his situation was 
becoming perilous was because word had come through the natives, 
that in a fight between the Spaniards at Vera Cruz, and the Indians, 
some of the former had been killed, and so they could no longer keep 
up the fiction that the white men were immortal. So Cortez resolved 
upon a very bold deed. He insisted that the Mexican king should 
treat him as an equal and visit his quarters, and then he had his sol- 
diers drawn up around the building, and declared Montezuma a 
prisoner. He said he did this in retaliation for the attack on his 
countrymen at Vera Cruz, and as a surety for the punishment of the 
Indians who made the attack. Poor Montezuma was thoroughly 
cowed. It seemed very plain to him now that the prophecy concern- 
ing the pale-faced race that was to destroy ihe Mexican people, was 
coming true. 

He sent for the Aztec chief who led the attack on the Spaniards, 
and handed him, when he came, to Cortez for punishment. Cortez 
ordered the man to be burned in the market place, and then, embold- 



HOW MEXICO WAS CONQUi:UP:D. 



65 



ened by the terror he had created in the people, he had Montezuma 
put in chains. The Mexican king was then made to swear allegiance 
to Spain, and to give his treasure to be sent to the Spanish king. 
Cortez allowed Montezuma to keep his title, and pretended that he 
was still ruler under the protection of Spain. The nobles were 
induced by Montezuma to swear allegiance to Spain ; but they did it 
very unwillingly. Meanwhile the priests that Cortez had brought 
with him went about among the people, endeavoring to convert them, 
but the people were sullen and would not listen; besides, they really 
could not understand half that the priests said. 

So matters went on for several weeks, and Cortez felt as though 
he were walking over a volcano 
all the time, but he was too 
shrewd and brave to show his 
anxiety Finally, for a bold 
stroke, he ordered the priests 
to hold a mass in the temple 
of the chief Aztec god. This 
filled all the people with fury, 
and Montezuma told Cortez 
that he had better go, for the 
people expected the wrath of 
the Aztec gods to come upon 
them, and they would not spare 
the Spaniards. Cortez then 
made the excuse that he had 
no ships. Montezuma, there- 
fore, sent a large number of 
workmen to Vera Cruz to aid 
the Spaniards there in building 
the needed vessels. 

But now came fresh word which made the position of Cortez 
more perilous than ever. Velasquez, the governor of Cuba, had never 
forgiven him for starting out on the expedition against orders. And 
now, as word came through Spanish ships that had touched at Vera 
Cruz, that Cortez had reached and entered the rich city of Mexico, 
Velasquez was more determined than ever to punish him. So he 




MONTEZUMA, KING OF MEXICO. 

(Taken from an old copper-plate.) 



66 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

sent a small army under Pamphilo de Narvaez to take the authority 
of Cortez from him and send him back to Cuba in chains. Cortez 
was not the man to submit to anything of this kind, so he sent a 
messenger to meet Narvaez, as soon as he heard of his landing, offer- 
ing him a large share of the treasure if he would aid Cortez in the 
conquest of Mexico. To this Narvaez sent an insulting refusal, for 
he knew that he had more men than Cortez, and wanted all thetrei^s 
ure. So Cortez left a few men in Mexico, and then with the others 
set out to meet the advancing army of Narvaez. He surprised and 
overcame this army, won all the men over to his own side, and Nar- 
vaez was obliged to join him as his lieutenant. Then Cortez marched 
rapidly back to the Mexican capital. 

He found things in a very unfortunate state there. The com- 
mander whom he had left there, Alvarado, was a man of great brav- 
ery, but most imprudent The Mexicans had been holding a relig- 
ious festival, ard Alvarado had become so indignant, while watching 
the rites performed, that he forgot all considerations of safety and 
ordered his men to rush upon the people and put them to death. 
The whole city then rose in rage, drove the few Spaniards back to 
their quarters, and kept them prisoners there. Cortez rode into the 
city, hearing this, with the air of an angry conqueror, and ordered 
that the besieged Spaniard be supplied with food. For reply the 
people gathered in great numbers, and from the streets and roofs 
of houses, fired arrows and hurled stones at Cortez and his men. The 
Spaniards brought forward all their guns, and mowed the Mexicans 
down, but these would not give way. Cortez then rode to the palace 
where Montezuma was and commanded him, as a vassal of the Span- 
ish king, to come forward and control his people. The poor king did 
come out on a balcony, and tried to speak to the angry mob, but they 
would not listen and hurled stones at him. One of these stones 
struck him and a few days later he died, as much from grief and 
shame as from his wound. 

The struggle with the people went on; for the Aztecs would not 
consent to make any terms of peace with the Spaniards whatever. 
In spite of the terrible havoc wrought in their numbers by the guns 
of the invaders, they continued to fight and die, happy if, for every 
thousand Mexicans that were killed, one white man should fall. 



HOW MEXICO WAS CONQUERED. 67 

Cortez soon saw that the utter destruction of his force was only a 
question of time. So he took counsel with his captains and they 
decided to retreat. But he knew they must go without the knowl- 
edge of the Mexicans, or these would not let them escape. 

So they planned to go by ni( ht. I told you that the city of 
Mexico was on an island in the middle of a lake, and that it was 
connected with the mainland by a wide causeway or bridge. This 
bridge is described as having been in three divisions. The Spaniards 
had passed over the first division safely, in silence and under cover 
of the darkness. Then a Mexican sentinel perceived what they were 
doing, and aroused the city with wild outcries. The people then 
rushed forth, literally by thousands, all eager to destroy the white 
men before they could get away. They swarmed upon the causeway ; 
they cut away the outer bridges, and very many of the Spaniards 
were killed by the spears of the Mexicans and more were drowned in 
attempting to swim the lake. In the Spanish histories the story of 
this retreat is given the name of "the sorrowful night." 

It is said that more might have escaped alive, had they followed 
the advice of Cortez, to leave the gold and silver treasure that they 
had taken from the Mexicans, behind them. The officers generally 
followed this advice, and thus most of them got away safely. But 
the men, loaded down with their treasures, could not swim and these 
were drowned. Cortez then made his way to Tlascala whose king 
was friendly to him, and waited there until reinforcements from 
Spain and Cuba could reach him and until he could raise a large 
native army. Then, a year after his terrible retreat, he marched 
against the city again. Every step that he made on Mexican terri- 
tory was bravely contended, and when he was at last before the walls 
of the city, it was three months before he could force his way in. I 
cannot bear to tell you of the horrors of that siege, in which thousands 
of the people were killed and even a greater number perished of 
famine. It is terrible to think what dreadful cruelties men are 
capable of toward their fellow men. 

Cortez now took possession of Mexico as its conqueror. He 
seized the king, Guatemozin, who had succeeded Montezuma, and 
after that the people generally submitted, though very unwillingly. 
Three years later, Guatemozin was put to death on the charge of 
conspiracy, and thus ended the history of the Mexican kings. 



68 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

The city of Mexico was almost in ruins when Cortez took it, and 
he began to rebuild it at once. It was not an Indian city any more, 
but a Spanish city. The country was called Nevy Spain, and many 
Spaniards came every year to settle there. Cortez also sent to Spain 
for a bishop and priests to convert the natives, and churches were 
built in all the Spanish towns. Very few of the Indians, however, 
paid much attention to these at first, for the cruelty of the Spaniards 
who made slaves of them, and made them work in the gold mines, 
was as much as they could bear. However, though many died, the 
Aztec race did not utterly melt away, as the tribes of the West India 
Islands had done. The chiefs and rich men among them who made 
friends with the Spaniards, and paid tribute, were allowed to hold 
their lands, and thus a mixed race grew up in the country, which 
lives there today, and in the mountain districts there are still many 
descendants of the earlier tribes. 

Cortez did not find a very easy time of it after his conquest, for 
there was much jealousy of him. Narvaez and others took evil 
reports of him back to Spain, and after some time he was obliged to 
go back himself to plead his own case before the ruler of Spain — 
Emperor Charles V. He was able to prove that all the charges of his 
enemies were false, and he was made captain general of the army in 
Mexico, though another man was made governor. After he went 
back he headed a party of exploration through the country north of 
that which he had conquered, and discovered the gulf and peninsula 
of California. After this, his enemies said so many evil things about 
him that he again went to Spain to see the emperor, but Charles 
would not pay attention to him now. So he settled on an estate 
near Seville, and lived there in quite an obscure way until his death 
in 1547. Though he was so bard and cruel as a conqueror, Cortez 
was not so base in character as many of the other Spaniards that 
came to take possession of the New World. 




THE SEARCH FOR THE LAND OF GOLD. 

1524—1530. 

OU remember that one of the companions of that adven- 
turous hero Ojeda, was named Francisco Pizarro. This 
man, though of low birth and not only ignorant, but so 
indifferent to knowledge that during his whole life he 
never tried to learn to read or write, yet had a promi- 
nent part in the conquest of the New World. His 
parents were very poor, and so wicked that it is said 
his mother deserted him while he was an infant and he was nursed 
by a sow. When he became a youth he followed the occupation of a 
swineherd, feeding and tending large herds of pigs, an occupation 
much despised among the Spaniards. But this rough, ignorant boy 
was as eager for gold as any fine gentleman of them all, and when he 
heard of the great country of the west, abounding in gold and 
treasures, he ran away from his swine-keeping master and shipped in 
a vessel going to Hispaniola. 

Pizarro had been with Balboa when Comagre told him of the 
land of gold to the south. He had part in the difficult expedition in 
search of the great western sea, and was among the little group of 
Spaniards that first looked upon its broad waters. When poor 
Balboa was put to death by the selfish governor Pedrarias, Pizarro 
determined to go in search of the land of gold in the south alone, 
if no one would go with him. At that time he had a friend, a man 
as illiterate as himself, but far more generous and kind, Diego de 
Almagro ; and inducing a schoolmaster named Fernando de Luque 
to join with them, these three men induced Pedrarias to let them fit 
out an expedition. It took them a long time, and it was not until 
1524 that they were able to start out with eighty men, and some 
horses, in one ship with two canoes. Pizarro went first and followed 
the coast southward, but he had only scanty supplies, and was not 



70 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

able to get more at the points of the coast where he stopped, so the 
men suffered much for want of food, and named one of the spots 
where they stopped " the port of hunger." Indeed, they were so 
discouraged, because of being starved and finding nothing, after 
being out about four months, that they turned back, but they met 
Almagro and de Luque coming with a well supplied vessel, and 
more stories which they had gathered from some natives, of the great 
gold country of the south. S ) when the sailors had all been well fed, 
they agreed to go on with the expedition, and Pizarro, Almagro and 
de Luque made a solemn compact that they would not turn back, 
whatever difficulties they might meet, and that they would share 
equally all the treasures they gained. There were now one hundred 
and sixty men in the expedition. As they went down the coast they 
saw increasing signs that they were drawing near to a wealthy 
country. They saw villages here and there, and some large towns 
with streets, and the natives that came to the shore wore clothing, 
and golden ornaments. They did not, however, meet on the ocean 
any of the "ships with sails and oars," which the young Darien chief 
had told him were to be seen on the western sea. There is, indeed, 
no evidence that any of the partly-civilized nations of the New 
World had any more than the most imperfect knowledge of nav- 
igation. 

At one point, about fifty men landed with horses and began an 
advance toward the interior. Instantly the natives came against 
them by thousands, but their destruction was said to have been 
prevented in a curious way. One of the Spaniards fell from his 
horse, and the natives, astonished at seeing what they supposed to be 
one being thus suddenly become two, stood still in dismay, and the 
Spaniards were enabled to escape. It is true that the natives of the 
New World had never seen horses, and that these animals excited 
wonder and fear, but this story does not seem probable. 

No other advance into the interior was now attempted, for the 
Spaniards really were alarmed at seeing the great numbers of the 
natives in this country, but all soon after landed on an island, and 
it was decided that Almagro should take the ships and go back to 
Darien for reinforcements. Now the soldiers were not at all pleased 
with this plan, and many of them wrote letters to their friends 



THE SEARCH FOR THE LAND OF GOLD. 



71 



urging that no one should help Almagro, as the plan which he and 
Pizarro wished to carry out could only result in the death of all 
those taking part, without securing any good. But Almagro on the 
way back read all the letters, and destroyed those which found any 
fault with the expedition. In a ball of cotton, however, which one 
sailor made a 
pretext for 
sending to a 
fiiend, there 
was concealed 
a few lines, 
saying that 
the drover had 
only returned 
for sheep for 
the butcher. 
These were ta- 
ken to the gov- 
ernor, Pedrar- 
ias, who there- 
upon detained 
Almagro and 
sent several of 
his officers 
with two ships 
to bring back 
Pizarro and 
all his men. 
When these 
had reached 

the island where Pizarro was, and stated their object, Pizarro turned 
to his assembled men. Drawing a line on the sand from east to west 
he said, pointing to the north : 

" Spaniards : — On that side you have hunger, nakedness and 
death, on this side " [he pointed southward] " we have ease and 
pleasure. It is Peru and riches, or Panama and poverty. Choose 
what becomes a Castilian. I go to the south." 




FRANCISCO PIZARRO. 



72 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

In spite of this appeal only eleven men decided to stay with 
Pizarro, and the others sailed away. For several months this little 
band, whose courage was worthy of a better object, stayed on the 
lonely island, watching for a vessel. At last Almagro and de Luque 
arrived with a ship and supplies, but with no recruits. Then the 
small company went down the coast and entered a bay which they 
called Guayaquil, on whose shores there was a large town. The 
inhabitants of this town came to the ship on rafts and brought 
abundance of most delicious fruits? The second day one of the great 
nobles of this people, whom they called Incas, came to the ship. 
Pizarro met this man with a pretence of great deference, and through 
his interpreter told him much the same story that Cortez told Mon- 
tezuma, that he, Pizarro, was a servant of the most powerful king 
of the world, that the king had heard that the natives of this country 
worshipped evil spirits, and had sent to tell them of a true God. 
The Inca listened politely but did not seem to be convinced, and 
replied by inviting the Spaniards to visit his city, which was named 
Tumbez. Some of the Spaniards went the next day, and the day 
after others were sent. All brought back report of the indications 
of wealth in the city, of the number of gold ornaments the people 
wore and told how they saw a temple covered with gold and silver 
molded work. The Spaniards went nearly mad with joy at the 
idea that they had at last found the country of gold, and Pizarro 
gave thanks to God. 

Then they obtained as many gold and silver ornaments from the 
people as they could in exchange for iron tools, hatchets, hammers 
and knives, and also for poultry and swine. For neither fowls nor 
pigs were known to the people of the New World any more than 
horses, and they knew nothing of iron or how it could be worked or 
used. 

Pizarro and his little band then went back to Darien. Having 
ascertained with certainty the existence of the country of gold, he 
thought he would have no difficulty in securing an expedition to 
conquer it, but the governor of Darien would not help him and he 
was, therefore, obliged to go back to Spain for assistance. 

He made his way to the Spanish court and told the king of the 
golden kingdom which he had found in the mountains. Nothing 



THE SEARCH FOR THE LAND OF GOLD. 73 

was too wonderful to be true in those days. The king was very 
much interested in his account of his explorations and the sufferings 
that he and his companions had endured. But though he was very 
ready to empower Pizarro to raise money and men to conquer the 
new country, he did not give him any money but made him promise 
to give a large part of all the treasure that Le secured to the Spanish 
crown. In return for this, he gave Pizarro the government of Peru, 
and the schoolmaster de Luque was made bishop of the kingdom, 
and Almagro a judge. Then Pizarro went to the province he was 
born in and induced his three brothers to sell their lands and go with 
him, and they helped him to recruit others. But not every man was 
ready to face all the dangers of the New World, which were better 
understood now than at first, and when the six months allowed to 
Pizarro for recruiting his force were ended, he had only three ships, 
thirty- seven horses and one hundred and eighty-three men. Since 
the Spaniards found how the natives of the New World were terrified 
at sight of horses they always took these animals with them. So 
with this small force Pizarro set out to conquer an empire Dec. 28, 
1530. 




THE CONQUEST OF PERU, THE LAND OF GOLD. 

1530—1533. 

r IS very strange how things come about in this world, and 
how the schemes of wicked men are often aided by circum- 
stances in which they have no part. It is our opinion, 
you know, that only good men should be helped in this 
way, but the history of the world does not agree with our 
opinion. Cortez was helped in his selfish attempt to seize 
the empire of Mexico by an old and musty prophecy, and 
by the war between Mexico and the Tlascalans, which made the 
latter people willing to ally themselves with him. In a similar way 
the still more wicked invasion of Peru, accomplished by Francisco 
Pizarro, was greatly helped by a civil war which was going on at 
the time that he landed on the coast. You remember that when I 
told you about the Indians I spoke of a race of considerable civiliza- 
tion in South America, who were ruled by the Incas. There were 
many peculiar things about this people. Though they understood 
building and other manufactures, they had no written language, and 
kept all their accounts and recorded their history by means of 
knotted cords. 

These people worshipped the sun as the Mexicans did, but not 
with cruel human sacrifices. Their rulers, the Incas, they believed 
to be the children of the sun. The Inca was a sacred person and 
ruled his people with the utmost fatherly care and kindness. Every 
thing in the country belonged to the Inca, as a child of the sun. 
There was no money, no private estates. The lands were portioned 
out to the people every year, and so were the animals and the 
produce of the land. The country was like one large family, and 
evil jealousies, fraud and theft, were unknown among them in private 
life. 

There were quarrels among the Peruvians, however, and the last 

u 



THE CONQUEST OF PERU, THE LAND OF GOLD. 



75 



Inca that reigned before the Spaniards came had conquered the 
province of Quito, and had made a wonderful road along the moun- 
tains from there to Cuzco. He had married a daughter of the former 
ruler of Quito, and had a son whom he named Atahualpa. There 
was another prince, however, named Huascar, whose mother had 
been one of the Inca race, and for that reason, as well as because he 
was older, he had a better right to inherit his father's kingdom than 
Atahualpa. But the 
younger son was a 
great favorite with the 
people, and when his 
father was dead, and 
Huascar had been 
made Inca, Atahualpa 
rebelled and made war 
upon his brother and 
defeated him and put 
him to death. 

It was when Peru 
was disturbed by the 
quarrel between the 
royal brothers, that 
the conqueror, Pizarro, 
landed a third time on 
the Peruvian coast. 
After considerable 
difficulty, for it was 
a season of storms, 
he made his way into the bay of Guayaquil, and landing his 
men on the island of Puna, remained there for a year, when Fernando 
de Soto joined him with reinforcements. 

Pizarro had heard of the quarrel between the two royal brothers, 
and he thought he could use this condition of affairs to his advan- 
tage by offering to aid one of them against the other. He therefore 
started on his inland march Sept. 24, 1532. He sent messengers to 
Atahualpa, who was encamped near Caxamarca, beino; on his way 
back to his own capital after having conquered hie brother. These 




THE INCA HUASCAR. 



76 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAti. 

messengers returned with an envoy from the Inca to Pizarro, bring- 
ing friendly messages, beautiful presents of gold and jewels, and 
provisions for the Spaniards. Pizarro marched up the mountain 
side. 

It seems very strange that the Inca did not attempt to stop him, 
for in the mountain passes it would have been very easy to drive 
him back and hurl his whole army down the precipices. In many 
places, says the historian, this road was so precipitous that it was 
like the steps of a staircase. But Atahualpa apparently rested secure in 
the greater numbers of his army, which then numbered fifty thou- 
sand men, while the little force which Pizarro was pushing up the 
mountain was less than two hundred. But the fearless Pizarro seem- 
ed to count size as of but little value, for when he left Tumb(z for the 
mountains, he called his men together, and told them that if any 
were afraid to go with him they might stay behind, for, he said, " I 
would be ashamed to die with any man, who is afraid to die with 
me.'' 

Without meeting any opposition, therefore, the Spaniards 
reached the town of Caxamarca, which they found quite deserted. 
It was a city built for about two thousand inhabitants, but the 
people had all gone away, either through fear, or because the Inca 
had ordered them to give up the place for the convenience of the 
newcomers. The town was well built, was fortified, and in the 
center was a large square where^ Pizarro encamped his small army. 
Then he sent Fernando de Soto,* and his own brother Fernando, with 
about forty horsemen, to Atahualpa's camp. 

These messengers were received by Atahualpa, sitting at the 
entrance to his tent. He was surrounded by a number of his chiefs, 
and his women, all of whom stood in his presence. He had upon 
his head the curious head-dress which the Incas wore instead of a 
crown, which is described as '*a tassel of fine wool, like silk, of a deep 
crimson color, two hands in breadth, set on the head with descend- 
ing fringes which brought it down to the eyes." He had to raise 
these fringes when he wished to see. This head dress, the Spanish 
soldiers thought, made him look very solemn. At first he did not 
deign to lift his eyes to the visitors. They gave the message of 
Pizarro, which was that he was waiting the visit of Atiihualpa at 



THE CONQUEST OF PERU, THE LAND OF GOLD. 77 

Caxamarca. The Inca then lifted his eyes and said that many 
complaints had been brought him, from the natives that the Span- 
iards had misused or put in chiiins, but he would go to see the 
Spanish commander, and would speak to him as a friend. He had 
understood, he said,, that the Spaniards were not great warriors at 
all. Fernando Pizarro replied to this remark with much haughti- 
ness, saying that with one horse the Spaniards could subdue the 
entire country. The Inca replied that he would like to have them 
go and subdue a very stubborn tribe of Indians a few miles off. 
However, he said, he would visit the Spanish commander the 
next day in the morning. 

The next day, at about noonday, the Spaniards received word 
that Atahualpa was on the way from his camp. He was coming 
without arms, he said, but with some soldiers who were to form his 
suite, as he wished to take up his quarters in the town. Pizarro 
made his soldiers all ready for attack. Prepare, he said, for any 
warning of treachery on the part of the Indians. The afternoon 
wore away, and evening was coming on and still the Indian king did 
not appear. This strengthened Pizarro's suspicions. He sent word 
to the Inca to tell him that he was about to sit down to supper, and 
did not wish to do so until his guest should arrive. By this time the 
Indians had reached the outskirts of the city, and at last Atahualpa 
came in, carried on a litter plated with silver and gold, and adorned 
with paroquet's feathers. With him came about five thousand men, 
apparently unarmed, but carrying small clubs, slings and bags of 
stones, under their cotton doublets. 

Pizarro was acquainted with Cortez and that conqueror had no 
doubt told him all about his capture of Montezuma. We may be 
sure that he intended in like manner to capture the Peruvian ruler 
by some sudden and unexpected movement, and that it was not at 
all necessary, though it no doubt seemed expedient, to pretend a 
fear of treachery. 

The Inca halted his army when he entered the great square, and 
Pizarro came forward and in the usual Spanish fashion called a 
priest who was with him there to expound the Christian religion to 
the Indians. This was done through an interpreter, and at its close 
the Inca uttered a sigh, and said in Peruvian tongue " Alas ! " He 



78 



STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 



had probably not understood much of the priest's theology, but he 
could not fail to comprehend the close of the argument, which was 
that unless Atahualpa would pay tribute, give up his kingdom to the 
Spanish monarch, obey the pope, believe in Jesus Christ and re- 
nounce idolatry, his kingdom would be laid waste with fire and 
sword. 

Then Atahualpa sj)oke; he contrasted with bitter emphasis these 

threats with the message of 
peace and brotherhood that 
had been previously sent. 
The Spaniards, he said, were 
either tyrants or messengers 
from God; in the latter 
case he and his people must 
obey them, but they must 
show themselves to be bene- 
ficent. Then the Inca asked 
to see the book which the 
priest had held in his hand 
— a breviary. He glanced 
at it, threw it down, and 
made some bitter remarks 
concerning the cruelties 
which the Spaniards had 
committed on their way. 
He then stood up in his 
litter and spoke to his peo- 
ple in the Peruvian tongue. 
The Spaniards chose 
to understand this as a 
signal for attack, and Piz- 
terrible KSpanish war-cry, 
had concealed around the 




THE INCA ATAHUALPA. 



arro with his followers, giving the 

sprang forward. The soldiers that he 

square were ready, and rushed out with drawn swords. It is not at 

all probable that the Indians had expected a fight, for except those 

that were immediately around the Inca, who tried to defend him, 

none of them made any resistance, and hundreds were slaughtered, 



THE CONQUEST OF PERU, THE LAND OF GOLD. 79 

while not one of the Spaniards received even a wound. Tliose who 
carried the litter were all killed and the Inca was thrown to the ground. 
A Spanish soldier rushed at him with drawn sword, but Piza.rro pushed 
him back, and received a sharp flesh wound in so doing, — preferring 
to take the unhappy ruler alive. 

Atahualpa was at first kept as Montezuma had been, a captive 
but a nominal king. He was allowed to see his courtiers and to send 
out orders — as long as these suited Pizarro. The Spanish soldiers 
had dispersed the Inca's army, and had plundered their camp, and 
bands were sent to plunder, seize and rifle the great cities of Peru. 
There was no resistance anywhere, for when the people knew that 
their king had been captured they gave up everything. A nation of 
eleven million inhabitants had been overcome by only one hundred 
and sixty men, by simply capturing their ruler. 

Pizarro pretended to be very friendly with the captive king. He 
preached to him every day, being determined to make a Christian of 
him — it would not be hard to make him as good a Christian as 
Pizarro was! — also taught him to play chess and games with dice, 
and amused himself with snowing him many things he had brought 
from Spain. Among all the things which were shown to him, there 
was nothing that pleased Atahualpa so much as some glass vessels 
and ornaments, and he said to Pizarro "that he wondered much that 
since the Spaniards had at home plenty of such beautiful material as 
glass, they should fatigue themselves in journeying over foreign lands 
and seas, in search of metals so common as gold and silver." 

Still the Inca longed to be free from his captivity, and offered to 
give to Pizarro in exchange for his liberty as much gold as would fill 
a room twenty feet f^quare to a height of nine feet from the floor. To 
this Pizarro agreed, and the Inca sent word to all the cities of the 
kingdom that gold should be sent for his ransom. Soon it began to 
come in, heaped up in carts. There were vessels of all kinds, cups, 
bowls, idols large and small, ornaments, earrings, — all of pure gold. 
The room was nearly filled, as promised, when Pizarro was seized 
with the idea that since there was so much gold in the country, he 
might as well have all as only part of it. So he pretended to be 
much excited by reports that the Inca was secretly calling upon his 
people to raise an army to deliver the country from the white men. 



80 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

We cannot understand today why such an army was not raised, and 

why these millions of people did not rise, and destroy those few 
hundred plunderers that had come upon them. But they did not, 
apparently because they had no leader. Pizarro then put chains on 
Atahualpa, a cruel indignity for a captured king to bear. Then some 
soldiers brought in a story that a great force was marching against 
the place where Pizarro was. This leader had sent away his brother 
Fernando, and also De Soto, the two men whom he knew would not 
sanction the act of gross injustice that he had planned. So he tried 
Atahualpa, under the Spanish law, for treason and heresy, and sen- 
terced him to Le burned to death unless he would become a Chris- 
tian. Only fifty out of four hundred Spaniards voted against the 
execution of this cruel sentence. When the poor Inca saw the stake 
and the faggots, he agreed to become a Christian. He was then bap- 
tized by the name of John, and when this was over, these silly and 
wicked Spaniards pretended that as he was now saved, he might as 
well be sent to glory right away. So they bound him to the stake 
and strangled him, and then buried him with the honors of a Spaniard 
and a Christian ! 





THE EXPLOITS OF ALVARADO. 

1523—1541. 

'he defeat of the southern races of the New World does not 
seem to us who now read of it, like the story of the defeat 
of men by men. It seems as though it was the destruction 
of men by giants, or destroying demons of superior power. 
The very presence of these invaders inspired terror, and 
the accounts of their conquests paralyzed the inhabitants 
of adjoining countries, so that no power of resistance 
seemed to be left them. 

When Cortez had conquered Mexico, we may suppose that the 
news of the city's fall was not slow in reaching the people of the 
other provinces of Central America. Along the rivers, through the 
mountain passes, the terrible tale travelled. The people of these 
provinces must have received the news with mixed feelings, for as 
Mexico was cruel and tyrannical, and endeavored to subdue all 
neighboring nations to her rule, offering the captives taken in war 
as sacrifices to her gods, after the barbarous plan of the Aztecs, they 
might have felt some relief that so cruel a foe had been overthrown. 
But they could not escape the fear least the terrible invaders might 
come upon them also. 

In one of Esop's fables we read of a horse which begged a man 
to deliver him from his enemy, the stag. The man did come and 
subdue the stag, but forced the horse in return to serve as his slave 
forever. This was the mistaken policy followed by some of the 
Indian tribes of the New World. After the city of Mexico had 
fallen, and the kings of the neighboring states sent ambassadors to 
pay tribute to the conquerors, there came, among others, an envoy 
from a state on the coast called Tehuantepec, who brought presents 
of gold and silver, and the request that the great conqueror would 
send an army to subdue another state, Tepultepec, with which it was 



82 STORIES OF THE THREE A.MERICAS. 

at war. Cortez sent Alvarado, one of his most trusted captains, for 
this task. Alvarado accomplished it, after Cortez' own plan. The 
Tepultepec ruler having received him kindly, and offered him 
presents, he threw the too confiding chief into prison and took 
possession of the kingdom. He then exacted tribute from the 
Tehuantepec ruler, also, and made him and his people slaves. 

Alvarado, who was the principal conqueror of Central America, 
was in many respects a remarkable man. He was of magnificent 
physical proportions, very strong and active. During the terrible 
night retreat of the Spaniards from Mexico, when the Mexicans had 
cut away the bridges of the causeway over the lake, and the only way 
of escape for the Spaniards was by swimming through the waters in 
the darkness, it is said that Alvarado, thrusting the point of his lance 
into the bed of the stream, by its aid swung himself clear across the 
wide channel. To this day a place is shown which is called " el 
Salto de Alvarado," or, the leap of Alvarado. 

This captain was of very agreeable manners, so that every body 
liked him, and he was so handsome, with such a bright smile, that 
the Indians gave him a name meaning " the sun." And yet he was 
as utterly selfish and avaricious as any of the other Spaniards, and 
not even Pizarro could surpass him in heartless cruelty. 

South of Tehuantepec was a kingdom called Guatemala. When 
Alvarado learned that this country was filled with rich cities, he was 
eager to go and plunder it, as Mexico had been plundered ; and to 
prepare the way for his robber army, he sent messengers to offer the 
" friendship and religion " of the Spaniards to the people. These 
told the Guatemalan chief that they came from Cortez, the invincible 
captain of the emperor of the world, who, though himself but a 
mortal man, had come to show the Indians the way to immortality. 
The messengers drew pictures of the ships of the Spaniards and their 
horses, and the Guatemalan chief was greatly astounded, and said that 
they would like to be the friends of such men, and would give them 
many presents if they would come — the old story of the horse and 
the stag over again! — and conquer some troublesome neighbors that 
he had. Then he sent the Spaniards away, and gave them such an 
abundance of gold, jewels and provisions that he had to send a 
thousand Indians along to carry them. You may imagine that 



THE EXPLOITS OF ALVARADO. 



83 



Alvarado's ambition was all on tire for conquest at sight of these 
gifts. 

The kingdom of Guatemala was then governed by a race 
known as the Toltecs. They had some traditions about their 
history, but, like the other tribes, they had no alphabet, and no 
written records. The Toltecs, they said, originally lived in Mexico 
at Tula, twelve leagues from the capital city. For five hundred 
years they had 
been oppress- 
ed by the Mex- 
ican kings, 
who took their 
sons and 
daughters for 
slaves. Then 
they had a 
great festival, 
during which 
a supernatural 
being appear- 
ed to them, 
and told them 
to quit the city 




RUINED TEMPLE OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 



of Mexico. 
The story is 

very like that of the journey of the Israelites from Egypt. 
After having been warned several times to depart by the 
ghostly being, their flight was resolved upon, and the king 
with his three brothers led them through the wilderness of the 
south. Their pilgrimage occupied many years, during which 
they suffered great hardships, and the king died and his son succeed- 
ed him, and finally led the people into the fertile and pleasant 
country around Lake Statlan, where they settled. The Toltecs had 
considerable civilization, living in comfortable houses and being well 
clothed in cotton garments of their own manufacture. They were 
acquainted with the manner of working in wood and metals, and had 
a good government of many wise laws. The Spaniards, however, tell 



84 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

US that in spite of their civilization, they offered human sacrifices, 
and even ate human flesh. 

Dec. 6, 1523, Alvarado left Mexico with two hundred and eighty- 
soldiers on horse and on foot, and four cannon and much ammuni- 
tion and powder, " to ascertain the truth concerning the difficulties 
between the Guatamalans and a neighboring tribe, the Soconuscans." 
This is the way that Cortez explained the embassage to the Span- 
ish emperor. An old historian compares the advance of Alvarado 
through the country to a flash of lightning. With the utmost rapid- 
ity he moved from point to point, overcoming the natives at each place 
and forcing them to acknowledge subservience to the king of Spain 
He burned all the principal cities and made all the people that he 
succeeded in taking slaves. He did not find it necessary to fight the 
Guatemalans, for they submitted to him readily. In July, 1524, he 
. halted his army and founded the city of Santiago in Guatemala. He 
chose for its site a beautiful wide grassy plain between two moun- 
tains. Both of these mountains being volcanoes, this site proved a 
calamitous one for the Spaniards, as you will learn. 

The turn of the Guatemalans came ^ery soon, you may be sure. 
Pedro de Alvarado being absent, his brother Gonzalo, who had been 
left in charge of the government, improved the occasion by passing a 
decree that eight hundred of the children of one of the wealthy cities 
of Guatemala — Patinaunt — should bring him each day a reedful of 
grains of gold. Naturally the children amused themselves, and did 
not pay any attention to the tyrant's orders, wherefore Gonzalo 
Alvarado threatened to imprison both parents and children. Then 
the inhabitants, not only of the city, but of the country and neigh- 
boring towns, rose en masse, and the other Alvarado had to hurry 
back to save the Spaniards from utter destruction. The revolt was 
not quelled until after nearly two years of warfare, in which, as 
usual, thousands of the natives were put to death. 

Alvarado having now entirely subdued Guatemala, he wished to 
hold the commission direct from the emperor and not from Cortez, 
who, he thought, did not fully represent his (Alvarado's) great 
services to the Spanish court. So he went to Spain, to tell his own 
story. He did it effectively, and not only obtained from the emperor 
all the titles and authority that he wanted, but advanced his own 



THE EXPLOITS OF ALVARADO. 85 

prospects greatly by marrying a beautiful lady, Beatrice de Cueva, 
who belonged to one of the proudest of the old noble families of 
Spain, and who willingly came to share his perilous life in the New 
World. 

Not long after Alvarado's return to his province, the great news 
of the golden successes of Pizarro reached his greedy ears. So he 
fitted out a fleet of ships as rapidly as he could, to join the Peruvian 
conqueror and share his plunder. His officers at Guatemala pro- 
tested against the expedition, as taking away such a force would en- 
danger the garrisons and colony left behind. But he went on the 
expedition, taking five hundred soldiers. Pizarro met him and 
induced him to go back, leaving his army, for $125,000. Pizarro 
wanted the soldiers, but he did not want another captain who would 
insist on sharing the Peruvian plunder. He had trouble enough on 
that score with his brothers and Almagro. 

The Spanish emperor was very indignant when he heard of 
Alvarado's expedition to Peru, and sent word to the governor of 
Panama, ordering that the captain should be arrested immediately 
upon his return to his province. But Alvarado's movements were 
too rapid for the order to have any eiSect. He had already returned 
to Guatemala, and gone to Honduras, where the Spanish governor 
was having a good deal of trouble, not with the Indians but with his 
own colonists. He silenced all these difficulties rapidly, in his rough 
way, and then shipped from the port of Truxillo for Spain. As he 
expected, he easily talked himself into favor with Charles V again, and 
returned to the New World with even added honors and titles. 

In regard to fulfilling the duties of administration, Alvarado 
was the worst governor ever inflicted upon the wretched inhabi- 
tants of the New World. He did not govern, says one historian, he 
simply came at intervals and devastated his province. His one idea 
was to fit out expeditions for fresh conquests and new opportunities 
for plunder. 

Soon after his return from his second visit to the Spanish court, 
there came to the ears of Alvarado an account of the seven cities of 
Cibola, a land far to the northward. These cities, it was said, 
abounded in gold and precious stones. Cortez had sent out one ex- 
pedition in search of these cities but it was unsuccessful. Alvarado 



86 STORIES OF THE TEIREE AMERICAS. 

then took up the plan, and made arrangements with the viceroy of 
Mexico, to conduct the expedition himself. But his plan was 
thwarted by the sudden death of this restless adventurer. 

On his way back from Mexico, after making arrangements for 
the northward expedition, Alvarado found some of the Indian towns 
in revolt, and stopped to aid the Spaniards in quelling them. The 
Indians had entrenched themselves in a fortress high on the side of 
a mountain. The ascent to this was so very precipitous, that as the 
Spaniards clambered up, horsemen and foot soldiers together, more 
than once a horse, being unable to keep its footing, fell backward 
down the height. As one of these poor animals fell, it struck a 
large mass of rock which dislodged and, bounding down, struck 
Alvarado in his ascent, and carried him along with it, breaking his 
bones, it is said, as if they had been in a mill. His men lifted him 
up and carried him on a litter to the city of Guadalaxana, sixty- three 
miles distant. The poor man lingered several days in terrible agony, 
both of body and mind, for we are told that, when too late, he re- 
pented himself sorely of all his cruelties and wicked deeds. One day 
when he was uttering more sighs and groans than usual, a friend 
who was standing by his bed, asked him what part gave him most 
pain, to which he answered " el alma'* [the soul.] He wept over his 
many deeds of cruelty and injustice, praying God to pardon him for 
them, for, says the historian, he could not ask forgiveness of the 
injured persons, since he had killed most of these. Shortly after- 
ward, having received the sacrament, he died. This was in July,. 
1541. 

That Alvarado's remorse was sincere, seems shown by the fact 
that he told the bishop who was with him, of his deeds of injustice, 
and bade him draw up a will providing for reparation to the wronged 
persons. He dictated this will to the bishop, and from beginning to 
end it was a confession of wrong- doing. 

The end of the story of Alvarado's beautiful wife is no less sad 
than that of the great captain himself. We may suppose that he 
gave her but a scant allowance of his company, so fond was he of 
raising expeditions and waging wars, but she was devotedly attached 
to him, and when the news of his death reached her in Santiago, she 
gave herself up to the most frantic grief. She had all the houses 



THE EXPLOITS OF ALVARADO. 87 

inside and outside, halls, courts and kitchens, mess rooms and stables, 
smeared with black paint. She herself went into an inside room 
.where there was not a ray of light, and would not eat or drink or do 
anything but sob and cry and groan. A monk insisted upon going 
to see her and trying to comfort her. He told her that there were 
two kinds of evils with which God chastised men — great evils and 
small evils. It was a great evil when he deprived them of grace in 
this life or of heaven in the life to come. It was a small evil when 
he took from them temporal things, as estates, children, wives or 
husbands. Upon this, the woman sprang up and told the monk to 
depart, that God could not afflict her with any greater evil after hav- 
ing taken her husband from her. 

It is said, however, that even in her sorrow the fair Beatrice did 
not neglect her worldly interests. The historian said of her that 
" her ambition exceeded her grief, and her love of rule was deeper 
than the skirts of her widow's weeds, or the folds of her widow's 
veil." She wanted very much to have the appointment of governor 
of Guatemala, and after her husband's funeral rites were concluded, 
she called the bishops and various officers of the government to her 
house, and urged them to elect her. At last, after much talk, she was 
chosen as governadora, the first instance of a woman who secured 
that appointment in the New World. She lived to hold the office, 
however, but two days. I told you that the town of Santiago was 
placed in a valley between two volcanos. One of these, the Volcano 
Agua, had a violent eruption, Sept. 11, 1541, on the second day of 
Beatrice's administration, throwing forth great quantities of mud and 
water by which the entire town of Santiago was destroyed, and over 
six hundred persons, including the hapless Beatrice, perished. 




THE FATE OF THE PIZARROS. 

1533^1541. 

^OU know how I told you that the rule of the Incas in Peru 
was like that of the father of a family, controlling and 
directing all their affairs, dividing their property among 
them and telling them how to live. The effect of this was 
to make the people all like children, who could do noth- 
ing by themselves. They were numerous enough to have 
utterly overwhelmed the small band of Spaniards under 
Pizarro; they were not a cowardly people; they had the advantage 
of living in the mountains to whose difficult passes they could retreat; 
they had wealth enough to support a large army for years, and yet, 
when their ruler was dead, they made almost no effective resistance 
to their oppressors. 

After killing Atahualpa, Pizarro made a pretense of putting a 
brother of the Inca on the throne. Then, as a story was brought to 
him that a Peruvian army was gathering at Cuzco, the capital city, 
he left the new Inca under strong guard and marched against it. He 
first sent the brave De Soto forward to guard the passes in the hill, 
and keep the Indians from destroying the bridges over the rivers. 
Then the army followed, and with its guns and horses, it utterly 
routed the Peruvian army, and took possession of Cuzco. When the 
poor Inca, who seemed to be able to do nothing but brood over the 
sorrows of his country, heard of this new calamity, he died. The 
governor of Cuzco had defended himself bravely, and Pizarro reems 
to have been afraid to keep him alive, even in confinement, fearing 
that he might escape and head an army again, so y, was pretended 
that he had caused the death of the Inca, and he was burned at the 
stake. 

The Spanish army fairly gorged itself with plunder in the rich 
city of Cuzco. On the division of the treasure, after setting apart a 



THE FATE OF THE PIZARROS. 89 

large share for the king of Spain, and giving to the officers double 
portions, the share of each common soldier was $60,000. You have 
learned how the desire to get gold seemed to turn the Spaniards into 
fiends, now when this desire was actually glutted, they seemed to 
become idiots. There arose among them a perfect passion for gam- 
bling and they would waste their treasures as fast as they had gained 
them. For instance, there was in the temple at Cuzco, a large disk 
of solid gold representing the sun, which, in the division, fell to the 
lot of one of the soldiers, and that same night he lost it at the gaming 
table. This incident is said to have been the origin of a common 
Spanish proverb used to describe a reckless man. They say of him 
— '' He gambles away the sun before it rises." 

On January 6, 1535, Pizarro laid the foundations of a new city 
on the coast, which he named the City of the Kings, because it was 
founded on the feast-day of the three kings or Magi, but it was called 
Lima in later years. And soon after this, the conqueror got into 
trouble both with the Spaniards and the Peruvians. 

You remember Pizarro's friend Almagro, with whom he solemnly 
promised to share his gains equally, do you not? But when it came 
to a division of wealth and power, Pizarro always wanted the lion's 
share. Perhaps the two would have got on better, if it had not been 
for the brothers of Pizarro, who in every case of difficulty took part 
against Almagro. And this man thought that four against one was 
hardly fair. After the conquest, Pizarro had been given the rank of 
marquis and was made governor of Peru ; Almagro was made a mar- 
shal and governor of all the land south of Peru. Pizarro had given 
the government of Cuzco to two of his brothers, but Almagro chose 
to claim that city as being in his territory. A compromise of the diffi- 
culty was patched up, and Almagro set out to conquer the country 
of Chili to the south. 

After the death of the Inca who succeeded Atahualpa, another 
brother, Manco, was given the title by Pizarro, but was kept always 
under guard. However, he escaped after some time and put himself 
at the head of a great Peruvian army, every man of which had sworn 
not to lay down his arms while a white man lived in Peru. They 
marched against Cuzco, and there was terrible fighting for many 
weeks, the Spanish force being led by the three brothers of Pizarro. 



90 



STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 



At last the Spaniards were victorious, but one of the brothers, Juan 
Pizarro, had been killed. Manco Inca then went into the naoun- 
tains and for a long time harassed the Spaniards, greatly by sudden 
assaults. At last a Spaniard visited his camp, pretending to be very 
friendly with him, and taught him to play at bowls, a favorite Span- 
ish game. When they were playing one day, a dispute about the 
game arose and the Spaniard threw a bowl at the Inca's head, injur- 
ing him so that he soon after died. 
Thus perished the last of the Incas. 
About this time Almagro came 
back from Chili. He had had a mis- 
erable time marching over the 
snowy mountains, and had found 
no empire and no gold. So he 
had convinced himself that Cuzco 
ought to belong to him — and he 
marched up to its walls and ordered 
the two Pizarros there, Gonzaloand 
Fernando, to give it up. They sent 
a messenger down to Lima, where 
the Marquis Francisco Pizarro was, 
for orders. Almagro did not wait 
for any orders, but, the next night, 
crept into the town with all his 
men. They forced the Pizarros to 
take refuge in the palace of the Inca, 
and then, setting this on fire, forced 
them to surrender. Almagro then 

started toward the sea coast to establish a port for himseK, 
taking Fernando Pizarro with him and leaving Gonzalo in 
chains. The latter escaped, however, and joined the marquis. 
Then there was an interview between the elder Pizarro and 
Almagro, and an attempt to compromise matters. It was 
no use, however, and the two sides were soon at open war. There 
was a furious battle between them, which was watched by 
thousands of Peruvians from the mountain peaks around, and we 
may suppose that these poor, wronged barbarians must have taken 




PERILS OF CROSSING THE ANDES. 



THE FATE OF THE PIZARROS. 91 

great satisfaction in seeing their brutal oppressors kill one another. 
Almagro was defeated, taken and thrown into prison. The Pizarros 
did not dare to have him publicly executed, fearing the indignation 
on the part of his friends, whom they wanted to conciliate and bring 
over to their side. So he wa« quietly strangled in prison, and it was 
given out that he had died of a fit. And his old friend Pizarro pre- 
tended to be terribly grieved over the occurrence, and shed a large 
number of crocodile tears, to make people think that he loved Alma- 
gro dearly and never wished to do him harm ! 

This was not the end of the trouble, however, for Almagro's son 
still lived, a daring young man, not at all likely to forgive Pizarro, 
who had made a solemn promise to him that his father's life should 
be spared. However, he agreed not to attempt to take vengeance 
until a judge should arrive from Spain to decide the case. But 
before this matter was done with it had ended the career of all the 
Pizarros in Peru. 

Fernan^'o Pizarro, by far the best and most honorable of the 
brothers, was sent, soon after the battle of the Salinas in which 
Almagro was killed, to Spain with a large quantity of treasures for 
the crown. Very soon after he reached there, the relatives of 
Almagro in that country brought suit against him for the marshal's 
murder. The suit was decided against him, he was thrown into 
prison, and kept there for more than twenty years. When he was 
released, all his old friends were dead, and he retired to the little 
town where he was born and lived there quite forgotten by the world, 
till he was over one hundred years old. 

When Fernando left for Spain, Gonzalo started against the 
natives of Charcas, and conquered and took possession for Spain of 
the country in which the great silver mines of Potosi were afterwards 
found. He was then made governor of Quito and soon after went in 
search of a country full of cinnamon trees, which the Indians told 
him was to be found in the mountains. Many miles from Cuzco, 
these explorers came to a net work of rivers with broad marshes 
between them. Here the forest was so dense with vines and great 
fern plants that they had to cut a path for themselves at every step. 
Then they made a large canoe^ put into it their knapsacks and guns, 
and all their sick men, and started it down a river which the Indians 



92 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

called the Coca. The rest of the men went along the shore of the 
river with the boat, cutting their way with axes. You see they had 
passed the crest of the Andes mountains, and were descending on 
the eastern slope. At last they found some Indians who were quite 
friendly to them, and who told them that the Coca river flowed into 
a much larger stream where there was plenty of food for the white 
men. Gonzalo therefore decided to send the bravest of his captains, 
Francis de Orellana, in the boat with some men, down to tJie larger 
river to get a supply of food and bring it back to the others. 

Orellana was a brave man, no doubt, but he was not a very 
honorable man. For, after reaching the great river which the Indians 
called the Maranon, and finding what a noble river it was, he did not 
want to go back to his companions but thought there would be great 
glory in following this river to the sea. So he said to his men that 
as the current of the river was very swift it was no use to try to stem 
it and go back. Though they had been but ten days in coming to 
the larger river, he said it would take them a year to go back against 
the current, and by that time all of Gonzalo Pizarro's company would 
be dead anyhow. As the most of the men were more inclined to go 
forward than back, they were easily persuaded by Orellana's argu- 
ments to go with him. Only two were faithful enough to refuse, and 
these made their way back through the forest to their companions 
and told them what Orellana had done. So there was nothing for 
Gonzalo to do but to struggle back to Peru. He was two years 
in making his way back through the mountain thickets, and nearly 
all of his men nerished through exposure and hunger. When, at 
last, all that was left of the expedition, a few sick, ragged and starv- 
ing men, with Gonzalo, reached Cuzco again, the first news that they 
heard was the story of the murder of the great marquis Pizarro. 

He had been killed by the friends of the dead Almagro, whose 
patience had become worn out with waiting for justice from the 
government. They plotted together, and on the 25th of June, 1541, 
went to Pizarro's house to kill him. It was Sunday and they were 
told that the marquis was ill, but they puslied their way in, and with 
the cry, " Down with the tyrant," stabbed him before he could make 
resistance. Young Almagro was made governor, but soon after a 
new governor was sent from Spain, and as Almagro would not sub- 



THE FATE OF THE PIZARROS. 



93 



mit to him, he was taken and put to death. Soon after his return, 
GoDzalo Pizarro headed a similar revolt and was taken and executed. 
Thus ended thestory of these avaricious and cruel brothers. The new 
government of Peru was quite honorable and fair, and did much 
for the protection of the Indians and the peaceful colonization of 
the country. 

But what had become of the selfish Orellana? He had sailed in 




SWAMPS OF THE AMAZON. 



his little boat, down the great river to the sea. It was a strange and 
wonderful voyage and full of dangers. The men were not only 
amazed and delighted at the great forests that lined the banks of the 
river, at the beautiful flowers which they saw, and the birds of gor- 
geous plumage, but they were terrified by strange wild beasts whose 
roaring filled the air at night, and at the monstrous serpents which 



94 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

they saw when they landed. Bands of naked savages came to the 
shore and looked at them in amazement, and sometimes sent showers 
of arrows after the boat. Some women armed with bows and 
arrows also came and shot at them, and from these Orellana called 
the great river the Amazon. Reaching the sea, he made his way along 
the coast till he found a Portuguese settlement, and thence took p.ns 
sage in a vessel for Spain. When the account of his discovery Wi s 
told to the king he was sent out again with four hundred men in four 
ships to found a colony and conquer the country. But on the pas- 
sage out Orellana died, and the others of the company, finding after 
landing that the Portuguese were inclined to contest their right to 
make a settlement, went back to Spain. So the Spaniards never 
gained control in the land of the Amazons. The Portuguese kept 
their hold on the country, were the main colonizers there, and after 
the country had become independent it was a branch of the Portu= 
guese royal family that obtained rule over it. 




THE STRANGE STORY OF CABEZA DE VECA. 

1528—1535. 

IKE all young people— and many older ones, too, for that 
matter,— you no doubt love to read about strange and 
wonderful things. And some one perhaps has made you 
think that you must look in romances and fables for 
wonders, that all history is commonplace and stupid. 
But you must surely know now, after reading of the dis- 
covery and exploration of the New World, that history 
abounds in interesting and wonderful stories. One of these I shall 
now tell you, and the most wonderful part of it is, that one of the 
men who took part in it lived to tell about it. 

You remember the man whose jealousy nearly overthrew the 
scheme of Cortez to conquer Mexico— Narvaez, a hard, selfish, cruel 
man. Cortez met him, you will recollect, defeated him, and took 
command of his army, making him a subordinate officer. After 
Mexico was conquered, however, Narvaez was allowed to go back to 
Spain. He was filled with great rage and envy, you may be sure, 
against Cortez, who had taken from him the honors and the wealth 
of conquest. But he had rich friends in Spain, and he was a vain, 
bold man himself, so after a short time he secured authority to con- 
quer Florida, the land which Ponce de Leon had found, and govern 
it. He was now in high feather, believing that he would find another 
kingdom like Mexico, abounding in gold that he could freely plun- 
der. He left Spain with six hundred men, but stopping at Hispan- 
iola he was detained for some time in getting supplies, and nearly 
two hundred of his men deserted him, probably because they had 
come to have some knowledge of his cruelty, and did not wish for 
any better acquaintance with it. At last the expedition set out with 
about four hundred men, and April 13, 1528, he landed in Tampa 



96 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

Bay, and took possession of the country in the name of Spain. 
There went with him, as his aid and the treasurer of the expedition, 
a gentleman named Cabeza de Veca, a fact to be remembered, as but 
for this man, the story of the expedition would probably have been 
utterly lost to the world. 

One of the objects of this expedition was to secure, besides all 
the gold that could be found, a large number of Indians to be sold as 
slaves in Cuba and Hispaniola, where the natives had nearly all 
perished through hardships and cruelty. Immediately after land- 
ing, the march inland was begun. It was only a story of disappoint- 
ments. Instead of rich cities and magnificent temples, only dense 
forests and wide swamps were found. When the Indians were asked 
for gold they pointed toward the Northwest. It is supposed that 
they meant to indicate the mountains of Georgia, where some gold 
was found to exist in later years. So Narvaez and his men pushed 
in that direction through the tangled forests. He was not wise 
enough to try to make the natives whom he met his friends, but 
treated them with hideous cruelty, torturing and killing them if they 
would not bring him gold. So they returned his cruelty with treach- 
ery, and the Spaniards had to fight every step of the way. At last 
his men refused to go any farther and Narvaez was obliged to retrace 
his steps to the coast. He had left some sailors with his ships, order- 
ing them to go westward along the coast and wait for his return. 
But when with his exhausted and famishing army, which had 
already lost one-third of its number, he came to the seashore again, 
the ships were nowhere to be seen, nor, though the men went in 
search of them both east and west, could any trace of them be found. 
They had in fact gone back to the West Indies. 

Narvaez was now in great perplexity, and he called together the 
principal men of his army to consult as to what could be done. 
They agreed that they must get away from that dreadful country 
and it was plain that there was no way to do this, but by building 
ships to cross the ocean in. But how were they to make ships ? They 
had no tools, no iron, no forge to work the iron in, nor rigging for the 
ship when built, and what was worse, not a man in the whole com- 
pany that knew anything about ship building. 



THE STRA.NGE STORY OF CABKZV Dt: VECA.. ^7 

Perhaps you have read stories about men who were wrecked on 
a desert island. From these you have learned that men can do many 
things that are very difficult when they are under a stress of neces 
sity. We have an account of the experiences of the army of Nar\paez 
and their method of conquering difficulties, written by Cabeza de 
Veca. It is interesting as the story of Robinson Crusoe, which you 
like so much. 

At last a man came forward who carved a pipe of wood, and 
with deerskin a bellows was made. By this time one man was found 
in the army, who had worked at ship carpentry. Then a forge of 
stone was built and with their stirrups, spurs, crossbows, and other 
things of iron, they made the nails and bolts that they needed 
Each day they killed a horse for food and sent out all the men they 
could spare to forage for grain. Nothicg of this kind could be ob- 
tained, however, without fights with the Indians. 

It is supposed from the narrative of De Veca, that it was on 
the shores of Appalachicola Bay that the army of Narvaez built its 
strange little fleet of boats. In sixteen days they had five boats 
completed, for they were so eager to get away that they worked as 
hard as they could, and managed to use very imperfect materials 
successfully. They used palmetto fibre for calking, they made resin 
themselves, from pine trees ; they used palmetto husks, and also the 
tails and manes of horses, for rigging, and nearly all the shirts of the 
men were taken for sails. They cut down cedar poles for oars. 
They skinned the horses they killed, and taking these skins 
entire, they tanned them and used them for holding water. At 
last they set sail, and at first the boats were so full that the men 
had to sit close. There was great fear that the boats would be 
swamped with the heavy load, but as the days went on and the frail 
craft were tossed upon the boisterous waters of the gulf, so many 
died of hunger and disease that the boats were greatly lightened. 

Not one among the men on these boats, De Veca says, had any 
knowledge of navigation, which seemed strange in that adventurous 
age. Besides, they had no compass, and they thought that their 
safest course was in following as near as possible to the land, believ- 
ing, which was correct, that they would thus in time reach the Mex- 
ican coast. For a month these frail little boats with their crews of 



yo STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

heartsick, hungry, shivering men, kept near together, landing on the 
coast occasionally for food. Then came a terrible storm and the 
boats were scattered and two of them were not seen again. 

The next day Cabeza de Veca's boatman caught sight of the 
boat of Narvaez, and one other. The commander had taken aboard 
his vessel the stoutest and healthiest men. It seemed to De Veca, 
therefore, that he ought to be willing to help the others. Pushing 
forward until within hail of the other boats, De Veca called to Nar- 
vaez, saying that they should try to rejoin the other boat which was 
drifting out to sea. Narvaez replied that he was pulling for the shore 
and that the others might follow if they wished. De Veca then said 
that many of his men were so worn with sickness that they could not 
pull at the oars, and asked if the commander would not throw a rope 
to them, thus to help them somewhat in getting forward. But Nar- 
vaez answered that he had as much as he could do in getting his own 
boat to shore, without pulling others along. De Veca then turned 
his boat toward the third little vessel and joined it, and during the 
following night the boat of Narvaez disappeared and was never heard 
of again. Four days after, in a storm DeVeca lost all sight and 
knowledge of the other boat also. 

By this time the men in De Veca's boat were so overcome by 
suffering and despair, that they lay on the bottom of the vessel in an 
insensible condition, and the leader thought they were all dying or 
dead. Only one man was left who was able to help him in steering 
the boat, and, says poor De Veca, whose great courage and strength 
of mind seem to have held him up through everything, — " I thought 
I would far rather be dead than to look upon these poor, dying men." 
Then the wind increased, and as De Veca held his place at the helm 
he pushed for the shore of an island that they had drifted to, though 
expecting every minute that the sea would engulf all their sorrows. 
Then a great wave threw the boat like an egg-shell high up on the 
rocky beach. The sudden shock roused nearly all the men that De 
Veca had thought dead, and they crawled on their hands and knees 
out of the boat. De Veca then made a fire and hope was again 
aroused in the hearts of the desolate band. 

The Indians of the island soon came to see these shipwrecked 
mariners, and were so full of sympathy for them that they wept pro- 



THE STRANGE STORY OF CABEZA DE VECA. 



99 



fusely. Then they insisted upon taking them all to the Indian vil- 
lage, carrying those who were unable to walk, but after the white men 
were fed and restored lo strength and wished to resume their voyige, 
the Indians would not allow them to go, but made them the slaves of 
their chiefs, sending them to different parts of the mainland. 

It would take much too long to tell you of the strange experi- 
ences that DeVeca had among the Indians. He was quite shrewd 
and made the chiefs he met 
his friends. Then with the 
object of reaching the other 
white men, who had been scat- 
tered among the different 
tribes, he began to act as a 
peddler, taking the produce, 
bead -work, etc., of the differ- 
ent tribes to one another, and 
bringing back other articles 
secured in exchange. He was 
good at driving a bargain, and 
his services in this traffic be- 
came in great demand. Better 
than all, he was able occasionally to see and talk with his country- 
men. But the months went by, and still he saw no opportunity for 
escape. At last he slipped away, and the others joined him. Instead 
of following down the coast they struck westward. They had neither 
clothing nor food, but they pushed onward. Some friendly Indians, 
who had had no experience with the white man to embitter their 
minds against him, gave them skins to wrap themselves in, and in 
one way and another they obtained food. Still pushing onward over 
rocky mountains and desert valleys, they crossed the continent, and 
at last reached a Spanish settlement on the Pacific coast. This was 
the town of Culiacan, on a river which flows into the gulf of Califor- 
nia. Seven years had passed from the time when Narvaez and his 
four hundred followers had landed with such high hopes on the 
Florida coast, when this poor remnant of four men, all that was left 
of the army, at last reached a place of safety. 




BOAT 09 DE VECA ADRIFT. 




THE DISCOVERY OF A GREAT RIVER. 

1536—1541. 

'OU remember that Fernando de Soto was one of the 
captains with Pizarro in Peru, and that he was one of the 
bravest officers among the Spaniards there, and so much 
better and more honorable than the others that Pizarro 
did not dare to tell him of the treacherous plan to murder 
the Inca, but sent him awa}^' at that time. I am sorry 
to say, however, that De Soto, though he reproached 
Pizarro angrily when he heard of the cruel murder, yet consented to 
take a large share of the gold which Pizarro had seized, and to make 
no complaint against his leader, when he returned to Spain. De 
Soto was not cruel and greedy, willing to do anything for gold, but 
there was a good reason why he wanted to carry some wealth home 
with him from this expedition. 

Fernando de Soto was born in 1500 in the small town of Xeres 
in Spain. His parents belonged to the nobility but they were so poor 
they could not send their little son to school, and as the nobility 
did not work, his childhood was spent in idleness. But he was a 
brave, beautiful child, and his face so attracted the attention of a rich 
nobleman, Don Pedro by name, that he took the child and sent him 
to one of the finest schools. Here he learned all that was necessary to 
make a good soldier and came out one of the most gallant cavaliers 
of the day. 

But his beautiful face and gallant figure were all his fortune, 
and for his daily needs he was entirely dependent upon his patron 
Don Pedro. This nobleman, though fond of Fernando in a certain 
way, was very angry when the young man asked for the hand of 
his daughter, the fair Isabella, in marriage. It is said that he sent 
him away with angry words but being about this time appointed 
governor of the new town of Darien, Don Pedro chose De Soto to 

lOO 



THE DISCOVERY OF A GREAT RIVER. 101 

come with him because in this way he would be separated from 
Isabella. Some say that Don Pedro was a very wicked man and 
was planning to lead the young man into such danger in the con- 
stant wars with the Indians that he should never see the land of 
Spain again. 

However that may be, De Soto went to Darien with the governor 
Don Pedro, and he served as a soldier under that cruel man much 
against his will, for he pitied the poor Indians, who were at this time 
treated with cruelty beyond anything we can imagine. For several 
years he was here, and was growing very weary of his life, for he saw 
no opportunity of acquiring the wealth that would enable him to 
marry the fair Isabella. At last he heard of the expedition that 
Pizarro was preparing, to go in search of the land of gold to the south, 
and therefore resigned his post and went to join the explorers. 

He shared in all the terrible sufferings of the expedition, and 
when the rich Inca had been killed and his wealth seized by the 
Spaniards, De Soto was given a share of the plunder. I think that he 
must have been ashamed to take the money so basely gained, but 
he probably said to himself, " The Inca is dead now and if I do not 
take his wealth somebody else will." And then his thoughts flew to 
the beautiful Isabella, and he thought that now her cruel, selfish 
father would not stand between them, and his happy thoughts made 
him forget all about the injustice done to the Inca. So after Peru 
had been conquered he took his gold and silver and returned to 
Darien, and there set sail for Spain. 

De Soto was now a rich man and the proud Don Pedro was 
dead, so the first thing he did on reaching home was to seek out the 
beautiful Isabella whom he had loved so long, and finding her still 
true and loving, they were soon after married. Now it would seem 
that De Soto had his heart's desire, for the riches he had sought for so 
long and Isabella whom he had loved from boyhood, were his. And 
for some time he was happy, but unfortunately he spent his 
money so fast that in a few years he began to wish for more. About 
this time a number of Spaniards visited Florida and came back full 
of delight at its beautiful woods and flowers, and they had under- 
stood the natives to speak of gold and silver mines in some distant 
region. So they said it was just the place for a rich colony. Fernan- 



102 



STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 



do De Soto listened eagerly to the stories of this new country. He 
had been an active soldier in the conquest of Peru. He had heard 
of the great conquest of Mexico. Why should there not be another 
great conquest with himself as leader? 

So he went to the king, who admired him very much on account 
of his past bravery and present riches, and told him of a great plan 
for entering Florida with a large army to discover and conquer. 
The king was very much 
pleased with the idea, and to 
make it easier for De Soto he 
was made governor of Cuba, 
a large island south of Flori- 
da. It was arranged that he 
should move to Cuba and 
start from there on his great 
expedition. 

This undertaking was 
very different from those which 
went before, for all the others 
had been undertaken by poor 
men hoping to make a fortune 
or a name, whose followers 
were reckless adventurers. 
This was led by the great 
courtier De Soto, whose name 

was already famous because of his bravery and the fortune which he 
had made from the spoils of Peru, and so popular was this cavalier, 
and so great the trust in his judgment and good fortune, that the sons 
of the richest nobles in the land made up the most of his army. 

Fernando took with him his brave wife Isabella, whom he 
planned to leave in Cuba, to govern that island during his absence. 
Many others also took their wives and it was a hopeful company 
which finally set sail from the coast of Spain. The voyage to Cuba 
was a fair and prosperous one, and there the fleet stopped awhile to 
put off the household goods of many, who, like De Soto, were to live 
in Cuba, and also to enlist such Cubans as wished to accompany 
them. These were not a few, for De Soto was a noted man, and 




FERNANDO DE SOTO. 



THE DISCOVERY OF A GREAT RIVER. 103 

many a high born youth, admiring the leader and noting the air of 
good cheer which all wore as though they were on a holiday journey, 
burnished his armor, sharpened his sword, and led his good war steed 
aboard the ship, sworn to follow De Soto wherever he might lead. 

At last everything was ready and with high hopes the party set 
sail for Florida. Their way lay directly to the north, and, as the 
warm waters of the gulf were soft and still, it was not many days till 
they arrived at Tampa Bay where they planned to anchor. Here 
the soldiers unloaded their provisions, their weapons and horses, and 
such animals as they had brought to supply them food. Then the 
sailors, promising to meet them next year further along the coast, 
set sail for Cuba, and the army, with banners flying and drams beat- 
ing, began their march into the heart of Florida. You see the story 
of Cabeza de Veca, and of the sufferings of his company, had not 
found its way to Spain or even to Cuba yet, or De Soto's company 
would not have been so hopeful. 

As it was, they started inland altogether ignorant of the difficul- 
ties before them, and especially unprepared foi the ill-feeling of the 
natives aroused by the cruelties of Narvaez. Their army was con- 
tinually surprized on the march by showers of arrows in the forest, 
by sudden attacks at night and other difficulties. It was not De 
Soto's plan to fight with the natives except to defend himself, and by 
kind treatment and gifts he tried to win over the chiefs. In many 
cases he succeeded, but now and then he found one whose hatred for 
the white man could not be changed. 

One of these was so fierce that De Soto could not understand 
why it was that in no way either of war or peace could this chief be 
persuaded to friendship. At last he heard that one of the white men 
who had visited Florida, had stolen this man's wife and daughter, 
and when the poor savage tried to get them back by force, the Span- 
iards seized him and cut off his ears. De Soto did not wonder at the 
warlike nature of these Indians after he heard this, and hurried past 
their territory. 

As they were going through the forest to the north they me« a 
small party of Indians They did not feel sure of the friendship of 
these natives and so raised their weapons to frighten them away; 
but one ran eagerly forward crying " Seville," the name of a province 



104 



STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 



of Spain, and they found that he was a Spaniard. He was one of the 
men of the Narvaez expedition, and had been living so long with the 
Indians that he seemed almost like one of them. De Soto was much 
pleased to meet this man, for he was of great use to them as he could 

speak the Indian language. 

Month 

after month 
they travelled 
on, sometimes 
wading 
through 
swamps and 
again cutting 
thei r way 
through for- 
ests. Now 
and then they 
were kindly 
received by a 
chief but 
more often 
were met by a 
declaration of 
war. What- 
ever it was the 
Spaniards 
met it boldly. 
It was 
their way in 
fighting the 
Indians t o 
make a bold 
strike for the 
leader and if 
they killed oi 

captured him the rest soon ran away. But one tribe of Indians 
they could not conquer in this way because the chief never 




THE BURIAI. OF DE SOTO. 



THE DISCOVERY OF A GREAT RIVER. 105 

came to battle. At first they could not understand this, but at 
last De Soto found out that this Indian was so fat he could 
not walk, but he was a good general and would arrange at 
tacks for his soldiers. As soon as De Soto learned this he plan- 
ned to find the fat chief and carry him away, but this was not 
easy as he was securely hidden. At last, from some captive Indian, 
De Soto learned that in the midst of a deep wood was a clearing 
where the chief lived with his best warriors. All around, closing 
him in, was hedge after hedge of heavy trees and at the opening to 
each hedge was a great crowd of warriors. So, says history, "in the 
midst of the forest lived the big chief like a great fat spider in his 
web " De Soto and his men fought their way to the center of this 
web and carried away the chief But this did not end the war as 
they had hoped. The fat chief pretended to be sorry that his men 
were so troublesome, and said that if they would take him where he 
could speak to his people he would tell them to stop fighting. But 
in carrying the chief to his camp they were not as careful as possible, 
thinking, perhaps, that he was too fat to get away. So one night he 
crept on his hands and knees into the wood where some of his warriors 
were lurking and was carried away in their arms. The Spaniards 
never saw the fat chief again and soon marched beyond his country. 

It was not easy marching in this part of the country but the men 
persevered, hoping always to find the gold for which they eagerly 
asked each new tribe of Indians. 

At last they heard of a country ruled by a young princess, where- 
in were white and yellow metals, and the Spaniards hastened to find 
this land. It lay beyond a broad river, but the Indian princess 
kindly crossed to meet them bearing a string of pearls as a gift to De 
Soto, who returned the courtesy by presenting a ring from his own 
hand. Prom the princess they heard the same story of white and 
yellow metals but were disappointed to find them worthless ores of 
tin and copper, and they tried to make up by taking the pearls from 
the burial places of the Indians. Some say that the princess ofi'ered 
these in sorrow for their disappointment. Others say that she re- 
vered the burial places and that the soldiers robbed them in direct 
defiance of the laws of hospitality. If they did not do this, at least 
they did one thing that was very wrong. They took the kind princess 



106 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS, 

captive to make sure that her warriors would not attack them. They 
carried her a long distance, but one day she escaped into the woods? 
and though they followed, I am glad to tell you they did not find 
her. 

After many more battles with difi'erent tribes of Indians wherein 
they lost many men and horses, the Spaniards, disappointed at not 
finding gold, and tired of fighting, became much discouraged. As 
the time drew near for them to meet the ships on the gulf, they 
planned to board them and refuse to go any farther in this new 
country. In some way De Soto suspected his men were not true 
and one night he went around the camp listening, and heard of the 
plan to desert him. It troubled him very much, for so far he had 
spent a great deal of money and gained nothing. If his followers 
deserted him now he would go home a poor man and be laughed at 
for his failure. So the next morning he told his men he had decided 
not to join his ships, but to march further into the country, and when 
the disappointed men ventured to speak of worn clothes and scanty 
food, he angrily hushed them. 

It is said that from this time De Soto changed from a cheerful 
friendly soldier to a harsh stern commander. He did not seem after 
this to have any plan before him, but wandered from place to place. At 
last the beginning of the third year came, and one afternoon 
they came suddenly upon a wide magnificent river. They gave it 
a name of their own, but found afterwards that the Indians called 
it the Mississippi, or Father of all Waters. This seemed to all such a 
good name that it is called so still. The river was very wide here, 
but the soldiers built boats to cross, and reaching the other side they 
wandered far into the northwest seeking always for gold of which 
the poor savages could tell nothing, though sometimes tortured to 
make them show its hiding place, for De Soto had changed in his 
treatment toward the Indians as well as in other ways. 

At last he seemed to see the folly of his conduct and to regret 
that he had not joined his ships, planted a colony on the gulf and 
returned to Cuba for reinforcements. He now planned to return to 
the great river which they had crossed far back, and build boats in 
which they would float down to the sea and thence to Cuba. With 
this end in view he began to lead the way back, a thing not easy to 



THE DISCOVERY OF A GREAT RIVER. 107 

do as the Spaniards seldom left the Indians friendly. At last they 
came to the river, but by this time De Soto, worn with care and 
trouble, was taken with a fever. He had been more like himself of 
late and now tried to cheer his men on to build their boat-s and make 
ready to start. Day by day he grew worse and at last, seeing that his 
end was near, he called his officers and soldiers to say good Lye. Such 
had been his faithful command that his soldiers wept as if they had 
lost a father, but they dared not let the Indians see their grief for fear 
that the}^ knowing the great leader was dead, would begin a war. 

They therefore buried De Soto at night in the bottom of a pit. 
The next day they pretended to be very happy as if their leader was 
better. The Indians did not believe this, however, and spent a great 
deal of time looking down into the pits. The Spaniards were afraid 
that they would dig around till they made sure of the death of De Soto. 
So the next night his body was taken up and put in the hollow of a 
great evergreen log and sunk in the waters of the great Mississippi. 
Thus they left him sleeping in the great river he had found. 

As for the followers of De Soto, while trying to hide his death 
from the Indians, they went quietly away from that spot at night. 
Instead of going down the river as their leader had planned, they 
wandered away to the southwest. Here they hoped to find some of 
their own countrymen, but they had only to fight more battles and 
they came back without a good many of their men and horses. 

They now returned to the plan of making their way down the 
Mississippi to the gulf and a few months later they landed on the 
coast of Mexico, a very different company from that which had set 
out so gaily through Florida four years before. That was a strong 
army, well clothed and well mounted. This was a few straggHng 
soldiers, clad in the skins of animals and without any horses, for 
those which had escaped the arrows of the Indians had been killed 
for food. 

It was a sad ending to such a hopeful undertaking. But though 
De Soto died of his troubles and privations and his brave wife of a 
broken heart, his name will ever be remembered as that of the first 
discoverer of the great Mississippi river. 




THE SEVEN CITIES OF CIBOLA. 

1536—1542. 

NE of the many tales of fabulous wealth which were told to 
the Spanish conquerors was the story of the " Seven Cities 
of Cibola." The first who told this story was a Texan 
Indian, held as a slave by De Guzman, governor of the 
north province of Mexico or New Spain. The Texan 
told wonderful stories of seven cities that he had visited 
as a boy with his father. Gold and silver were plenty 
there, he said, and the streets were lined with shops ablaze with gold 
and precious stones. 

The Spaniards were cruel masters and the poor slave had a 
hard time of it, so, cunningly discovering the white man's passion — 
the love of gold — he set himself to work to gain favor by directing 
him where to find it. With the help of quite a lively imagination — 
for an Indian — he made a story of seven rich cities out of some poor 
Indian hamlets between the Rio Grande and the Pecos rivers. The 
governor sent out an expedition to find these cities, but the explorers 
came back again after long wanderings, reporting that they could not 
find any cities at all. 

Every now and then an adventurer would start out to find a 
fortune by robbing these cities, but return a sadder and a wiser 
man than he went. So for ten years these seven cities of 
Cibola were only known by the story of the Texan Indian, which of 
course grew more wonderful as it was repeatedly told. Rumors of 
them had even reached the city of Mexico. But in 1536, four half 
starved men, Cabeza de Veca and three other survivors of Narvaez' 
band, — all that were left of them — appeared in Mexico. They also 
told how they had heard of cities where gold was everywhere. The 
viceroy of Mexico sent out an expedition under Marcas de Niza, a 

108 



THE SEVEN CITIES OF CIBOLA. 109 

Franciscan monk, with one of the wanderers — a Moor named Ste- 
phen, — for a guide, to find the cities and pave the way for the 
Spanish conquest. The Moor was so eager that he traveled on faster 
than the monk and reaching some cities still south of the Rio Grande, 
plundered them, and after goading the gentle natives into anger at his 
many outrages was killed by them. His followers then fled back to 
the monk who was slowly advancing. But on hearing of the Moor's 
death he turned back. On reaching the city of Mexico again he 
told that he had seen one of the cities from a hill, and saw the sun 
glittering on the golden roofs of the houses. He also said that he 
had met a man from another of the towns who told him that the 
commonest utensils were made of gold, as it was the only metal that 
the people had, and turquoise was used for money. Now this good 
monk was a very zealous worker and had the conversion of the 
Indians much at heart. And he knew that the love of gold and 
nothing else would lead the Spaniards to go among these people. So 
saying to himself that " the end justifies the means," he told these 
stories out of pure love for these poor heathen, that they might be 
conquered and converted. 

Of course another and larger expedition was at once sent out. 
The viceroy placed it under the command of Francisco de Coronado, 
who had succeeded De Guzman as governor of the north province. 

Coronado was a Spanish cavalier, born in the city of Salamanca. 
Brave he was, and adventurous, but the love of gold had made him 
cruel and avaricious, as it ever has done and ever will do. Coming 
to the New World he married the daughter of the royal treasurer, 
and this brought him favor and position, and he was soon made 
governor. It was after his term as governor was over that he organ- 
ized his expedition. 

Early in the spring of 1540 his expedition set forth with three 
hundred Spaniards and eight hundred Indians. The new governor 
told Coronado to let these people understand that there was a God in 
heaven and an emperor on earth. The march over the mountainous 
country was hard, and the soldiers grew discontented; but they 
were spurred on by the hope of the great wealth that would be theirs 
for the taking. When, at last, the country of Cibola was reached^ 
they found, instead of rich cities with streets of gold, only a few poor 



no 



STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 



Indian hamlets with no gold in sight. Caronado, however, would not 
give up. He knew that much money had been spent in fitting out 
the expedition, and he thought that there might be some other cities 
that he could rob. The Indians, always glad to lend a helping hand 
to get the Spaniards out of their country, on learning what the white 
men wanted told them of rich cities farther to the east. Again the 
expedition set out, and after some days' hard march they reached 
a country now marked by ruined cities and villages in New 
Mexico, watered by the Pecos and Rio Grande rivers, and not 
far south of the present city of Santa Fe. These cities had some 
wealth, for the natives were quite civilized. They built good 
dwellings of stone to live in, and understood some arts and 
manufactures. The natives welcomed the Spaniards, calling their 




ANCIENT CITY OF NEW MEXICO. 



commander "Hayota" meaning "a man from heaven." Presents of 
turquoise and gold were sent them, and the simple natives came 
before them playing on flutes and bearing vases filled with the 
perfume of flowers. The Spaniards — by way of showing their grati- 
tude — imprisoned several of the chiefs, plundered one of their vil- 
lages of everything of value in it and then set fire to it. Then 
from the other villages the Spaniards demanded cloth enough to 
make clothes for the entire army. Winter was coming on and 
the poor natives were forced to give up their own garments to 
their despoilers. But when the Spaniards tried to carry away 
their wives and children for slaves, they made ready to fight. 
Barricading their town, for some days they kept the foe at bay by 
arrows; but the Spaniards dug under the walls and fired the city. 
The Indians then surrendered on promise of quarter. The Spaniards 
kept this promise as they did every other. The chiefs being secured 



THE SEVEN CITIES OF CIBOLA. Ill 

and guarded, their conquerors determined to burn them alive. But 
when the captives saw the preparation for this, they broke loose, and 
seizing the logs intended for the fires fought for their lives. 'The 
Spaniards on horseback rode them down and killed nearly all of 
them with swords. 

The winter, which had now come on, was unusually cold, and 
the Spaniards were having rather a hard time of it, so they kindly 
offered to pardon the Indians of the villages — for being hospitable 
and friendly toward the Spaniards — if they would surrender their 
towns and feed their enemies. But the Indians had profited by the 
example of the fate of the first village and said that they would not 
make treaties with men who broke their faith, and burned prisoners 
of war. So siege was laid to another village. The inhabitants had 
prepared for it, however, and for fifty days resisted the foe. The 
Indians, cut off from the river, could get no water and they sufifered 
much. They melted all the snow that fell in the city, but this was 
soon exhausted. They tried to dig a well but it caved in and 
buried the workmen. At last, in despair, they made a great fire and 
burned up all their valuable things so that these would not fall into 
the hands of the Spaniards, and then, with their women and children 
in the middle, they made a wild charge to break through the ranks of 
Spanish soldiers. The Spaniards were too strong, however, and few 
Indians escaped the slaughter that followed. Many were driven into 
the river and the wounded were held as slaves. Thus these simple, 
loving, virtuous people, who had greeted Coronado with the perfume 
of flowers and the soft music of their flutes, came to understand what 
the wicked Spaniards meant by teaching them that there was a God 
in heaven, and an emperor on earth. 

The people of the villages that were left, were very anxious to 
get rid of these ungrateful Spaniards, and the same old plan was tried 
of sending them on to look for a richer country. An Indian came to 
Coronado and told him of a country far to the north. It was the 
kingdom of Quivera, he said, ruled by a king called Tartarrax. He 
told the most wonderful tales that his simple imagination could 
make up. Tbat the king sailed in a golden ship upon a great river, 
that he wore garments of gold — that gold was everywhere. -And he 
promised to lead them to the country. The commander was a little 



112 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

suspicious of this man, but he was so wild to get gold that he would 
not lose the merest chance of finding it. So on the fifth day of May, 
1541, Coronado and his army quitted the valleys which they had so 
thoroughly converted, crossed the Pecos river, and began a weary 
march over the trackless plains of what is now Texan, Indian Terri- 
tory and Kansas. There were no trees to shelter and the July sun 
poured down upon them ; many men wandering off a few miles to 
hunt game, never returned, for they had no land marks to guide 
them. At last they crossed a great river, probably the Arkansas. 

Coronado had now become more suspicious of this Indian guide, 
whom the men had nicknamed the " Turk." For when they passed by 
Indian villages, if the "Turk" was the first to speak with the natives, 
they always confirmed his stories of the kingdom of Quivera, but if 
he was prevented from speaking with them they said they had never 
heard of such a place. Of course the Spaniards — from force of habit — 
killed the natives, after they had eaten them out of house and home. 
This astonished the poor people much, as they thought the white 
men would do nothing worse than bless them, as Cabeza de Veca did 
when he wandered over the country. 

Coronado, believing that the "Turk" had deceived him, and 
seeing that provisions were giving out and that they would soon have 
nothing to eat but buff'alo meat, held a council with his captains. 
They decided that Coronado should choose thirty of his bravest men, 
and with Indians as guides and the " Turk " in chains, should go on to 
find Quivera, while his main army should return to the Pecos. 

After many weeks on the march the weary soldiers reached the 
promised land, and found the king Tartarrax. But, alas for their 
hopes, all the precious metal he had was a piece of copper which he 
proudly wore on his breast. The " Turk " then told Coronado that 
he had brought him and his soldiers out to starve in the desert, to 
rid the peaceful valley of the Pecos and Rio Grande of its foes, and 
then took his hanging quite calmly. 

Giving up all hope of finding wealth in the north, Coronado and 
his men turned back. But the leader was destined never again to 
see his fair wife and friends in Mexico. On the return march, when 
they had reached the Rio Grande, he was one day thrown from his 
horse and received injuries from which he shortly died. His men 
buried him in the Rio Grande river. 




THE STORY OF LAS CASAS 

1524—1566. 

HE system of slavery introduced by the Spaniards into 
America was most excessively and needlessly cruel. It 
was unfortunately sanctioned by Columbus, who, seeing 
the need of workmen in building towns in the new countryj 
had allowed those Indians who had been taken captive by 
the Spaniards in their wars to be portioned off to the 
various settlers. The white man was, in return for their 
labor, to teach them the Christian faith and religion. Columbus had 
a great desire to convert all the Indians to the Christian faith, and 
raise among them an enormous army which he could lead to Pales- 
tine and capture the Holy Sepulcher. But the Christianity whicl , 
his followers taught the Indians was of a very dubious kind. As soon > 
also, as they found the gold mines, they set the Indians to work iij 
them, and, to force them to get out as much gold as they could, they 
beat them cruelly. The Indians were not accustomed to laborioUff 
work. They had been content, in mining for themselves, to get out a 
small quantity at a time. Their wants were few, and they had as 
little need as inclination for hard labor. So when they were made to 
toil as slaves they died off in great numbers. Probably their mental 
sufferings were also the cause of death in hundreds of instances. 
For it is not possible for us to conceive what terrible agony it must 
have been for these poor Indians, aside from direct cruelty to them- 
selves, to see their beautiful lands laid waste, to witness robbery and 
murder and unspeakable cruelty to their friends and families, to feel 
themselves subjected to hopeless slavery, and yet feel absolutely 
powerless to change these evil circumstances in the slightest degree — 
it is no wonder that they died off in such numbers that in a few 
years whole races and tribes were extinct. When the lazy Spaniards 

113 



114 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

found that they could no longer get the Indians to work for them, 
they sent to Africa and stole negroes and set them to work in fields 
and mines. And thus negro slavery, which has been such an unut- 
terable curse to America, first began on the western shores. 

In Hispaniola, when so many of the poor Indians had died that 
there were not enough to work the gold mines, ships were sent to get 
the natives of the Lucayan Islands. And to induce these people to 
come with them, the Spaniards pretended that they were messengers 
from the Isles of the Blest, where the spirits of the ancestors of the 
Indians had gone! Just think what the disappointment of these 
poor beings must have been when they found to what a fate they 
were actually brought! It was not long, you may be sure, before 
they really did join the spirits of their ancestors. Sometimes, we 
are told, these poor Indians committed suicide in families or in 
parties, to get away from their dreadful tyrants. 

But all the Spaniards were not so cruel. The Dominican friars, 
who were sent out to aid in teaching the natives, protested with all 
their might against the cruelties which they witnessed, though by so 
doing they brought upon themselves the hatred of the conquerors 
and officials of the country. 

There was also a priest who was most active in his efforts to 
help the Indians, and accomplished so much that I must tell you 
about it. This was Bartolome de Las Casas. Just after he had 
taken orders as a priest he went out to Cuba with a friend, and 
together they had a grant of land and received the usual number of 
slaves to work it. At first, these two men worked their farm with 
the slaves, without thinking of any Wrong in it as long as they treated 
them kindly. But after a while, their eyes were opened by the cruel 
deeds of others, and they agreed to give up their farm and endeavor 
to secure some justice and protection for the poor Indians. Las Casas 
went to Spain and appealed to the king, who issued orders forbidding 
the practice of cruelties. But the New World was a long way off, and 
the greedy men there paid little attention to the laws made at home. 

After the conquest of Mexico, Las Casas went out there to preach. 
But he said so much against the violence and wickedness of his 
countrymen that he was not allowed for several years to preach at 
all. He wrote a book in which he declared that the Indians should 



THE STORY OF LAS CASAS. 



115 



be made Christians by love and good teaching, not by slavery and 
violence; and even if they refused, this did not make it right to make 
war on them and enslave them. The Spanish laughed at this idea 
but Las Casas was determined to put it in practice. 

There was at this time near Guatemala, a country which was 
filled with Indians so fierce that no one had been able to subdue 
them. It was called the "land of war.'' Three times the Spanish 
invaders had tried to penetrate this land, and three times they had 
come back from the attempt defeated, "with their hands up to their 

heads;" as the Spanish historian 

puts it. Las Casas actually signed 
and sealed an agreement with the 
governor of Guatemala to convert 
these people by peaceful means. 
This was while Alvarado was away 
on his expedition to Peru. Had 
this ruthless soldier been at home 
he probably would not have con- 
sented to the plan. The agreement 
testified that the Indians in question 
were fierce men in revolt, whom 
no Spaniard dared to go near, and 
declared that if Las Casas, or any 
of his monks, could bring these 
Indians to acknowledge the ruler of 

Spain as their monarch, and pay him a tribute, they should never 
be given to any Spaniard as slaves. It was also agreed that to give 
the monks a chance to accomplish this work, no soldiers or colonists, 
except those connected with the government, should be allowed to 
enter the country for five years. 

According to the manner of pious men in those times. Las Casas 
and his monks prepared for their undertaking with fervent prayers 
and severe fasts. Then they drew up in verse, in the Guatemalan 
tongue, an account of the creation of man, his fall and his banish- 
ment from Eden, and told how redemption was promised to him. 
Then, in the same tongue, they told the life of Christ, his teachings, 
his death, resurrection and ascension. They taught these verses to 




GUATEMALAN IDOL. 



116 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

some Christian Indian merchants, who were in the habit of carrying 
merchandise several times a year into the "land of war." The 
monks even set these verses to music that they might be accompanied 
by the rude musical instruments which the Indians used. The 
merchants were very much interested in the plan, and sang the verses 
with all their hearts, and the people listened to them with delight. 
Then the merchants told of the good fathers who had written these 
verses, and could explain more about the wonderful things which 
the verses described. One of the chiefs then begged that these good 
teachers should be sent to his country. A monk who was well 
acquainted with the language was sent, and was received with the 
greatest honor. A church was soon after built for him, in which he 
taught the Indians every day. The chief embraced the Christian 
faith and ordered the destruction of all the idols in the kingdom. 
When this monk returned, telling how successful his mission was, 
and how readily the people listened to him, Las Casas himself went 
to the country and spent some months teaching the people. 

It was only through much difficulty that the greedy Spaniards 
were kept out of the country, but the worst of them were not allowed 
to come in, and so the territory which had been called the " land of 
war" received the name of Vera Paz, or true peace. The people 
were greatly improved, living more comfortably and happily than 
ever before, and have ever since been a peaceful and flourishing race. 
Much has been said of the difficulty which civilized people find in 
managing the native races of a savage country. But this gives an 
excellent instance, and there have been others in the history of the 
New World, where the natives were civilized and enlightened at no 
cost of injury or injustice. 

Las Casas returned to Spain, where he stayed some time and 
there was made a bishop. He did not care for the honor, but he felt 
it his duty to take it, and was sent to Mexico to see that the new laws 
for the protection of the Indians were executed. His bishopric was 
in Central America, south of Yucatan, where a number of the worst 
Spaniards were settled. These worked against the bishop continually, 
for they thought his ideas about freeing Indians from slavery were as 
foolish as making oxen and horses free. They treated him in the most 
shameful manner ; they fought against him, abused him, tried to starve 



THE STORY OF LAS CASAS. 117 

him, and threatened him, but all this was in vain for one who cared 
nothing for the joys of this world, and feared not death. He held his 
ground until he had brought into the country a number of the good 
Dominican monks who were sure to protect the Indians, and in many 
ways he aided this unfortunate race. A great synod of the priests and 
bishops who were now in the New World was to be held in Mexico, 
and Las Casas went to it. The Spaniards of Mexico threatened to 
kill him if he came, but he went nevertheless. Four great rules were 
laid down — first, that the Indians had as much right to the land as 
Christians ; second, that the pope had given the New World to the 
king of Spain, not to make him rich, but that he might spread the 
Christian religion; third, that the Indians were not to be robbed 
without due compensation; fourth, that the king of Spain must bear 
the expenses of the Christian missions. 

Las Casas was sent to Spain to lay these excellent laws before 
the king. The king approved of them and Las Casas, being an old 
man now, stayed in Spain, thinking he could do more for the Indi- 
ans there by pleading their cause at court, than by struggling with 
wicked colonists. Once, the colonists sent word to King Philip that 
if he would abolish the law which gives all a man's slaves to the 
government on his death, they would pay him a large sum of money. 
The king wanted money just at that time, and was inclined to grant 
the request, but when Las Casas told him that the result of this 
would be to make the Indians slaves forever, the king refused. Las 
Casas, before he died, wrote a history of America, which is the best 
authority that we have concerning events of the early years of dis- 
covery. He died at Madrid in 1566, at the age of ninety-two years. 




THE FOUNDING OF NEW FRANCE. 

1524—1635. 

FIILE Spain and Portugal were pushing their way into the 
New World it was hardly possible that a great country 
like France could look on indifferently. " By my 
faith," declared Francis I, " God did not create these 
new countries only for Spain." But before this vain 
monarch came to the throne, not more than seven 
years after the coast of North America had first been 
seen by the Cabots, the daring fishermen of Brittany had found that 
there were good fish on the Nriwfoundland shore. And one of these, 
John Denys, in 1506 entered the gulf of St. Lawrence. But these 
fishermen were persons of not much importance in France, and 
little attention was paid to their stories of adventure. 

In 1524, Francis I sent out an expedition, under John Verrazano, 
an Italian sailor, who cruised along the Atlantic coast from Cape 
Fear to the shores of Maine. A long letter, purporting to be written 
by this man in 1524, gives a very interesting account of this coast 
exploration, but strange to say, after having been accepted for two 
hundred years as authentic, this letter is now asserted by some modern 
historians to be a forgery. Still, it can hardly be doubted that Ver- 
razano did conduct an expedition for Francis I, though how much 
it accomplished may not be known. Then came Jacques Cartier, ten 
years later, who found the great river St. Lawrence, explored it and 
gave it its name. Hs first entered a bay which he called Chaleurs, or 
"heat," because of the hot weather the explorers felt there — it was in 
July— and he landed there and set up a cross, with the king's coat 
of arnfs upon it, and took possession of the country in the name of 
the French king, calling it New France, a name which it bore many 
years. 



HE FOUNDING OF NEW FRANCE. 



119 



Cartier made three voyages. It was on his second voyage that 
he explored the river and went as far up as the present site of 
Quebec, and, in spite of the opposition from the Indian chief there, 
the " King of Canada," he pushed still further up the river in a small 
vessel to an Indian village called Hochelaga. Near this village was 
a beautiful mountain which Cartier called Mont Real or royal moun- 




CARTIER ENTERING THE GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE. 



tain, and the large city subsequently built at this point took this 
name. When Cartier was about to return the following May, having 
spent the winter near i^uebec, during which time many of his meT> 
died of exposure to cold and of scurvy — he invited the chief of the 
country and several other Indians on board his vessel, and then 
treacherously sailed away with them. All of these poor Indiar 



120 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

died of grief in France. Cartier did not go out again until 1841. 
Then, when he went out with Roberval, the new viceroy of New 
France, the natives came flocking on board his vessel, asking for their 
lost chief. They would not believe that he was dead and were very 
angry at the white men, and though Cartier stayed in their country 
another winter, he was obliged to fortify himself, and was in great 
danger and apprehension all the time. So, returning to France, he 
gave up all idea of further colonization or exploration of the New 
World. Roberval went back in 1542, with a ship and a band of 
colonists, but was never heard of again, and it is thought that the 
Indians may have taken vengeance on him for Cartier's treachery. 

But the man who founded the enduring colonies of France in the 
New World, was Champlain, of whose brave explorations I will now 
tell you. Samuel Champlain was born in 1567 in France, and served 
in the Breton cavalry when a youth, with his uncle, who was pilot- 
general of the fleets of Spain. In 1599 he commanded a Spanish 
vessel on an expedition to Mexico. When he came back he wrote 
an account of the voyage. The king of France then gave him a 
charter to found a settlement in the New World and made him 
lieutenant general of Canada. He set sail in March, 1603. Reach- 
ing the St. Lawrence, he started up the river in a skiffs with a few 
Indians. They reached the rapids above Montreal and tried to pass 
them, but they could make no way against the foaming waters, with 
oars, poles or paddles. The Indians on the shores of the river had 
not forgotten the story of the wrong that Cartier had done them, but 
the most of those who had been there when the chief was stolen were 
dead, and Champlain secured their friendship by kind treatment. 

On his return to France from this voyage, Champlain found that 
De Monts, a Huguenot gentleman, had been made a ruler of Canada. 
He and Champlain then agreed to go together and found a colony. 
They left France in March, 1604, with four ships, and finding ice in 
the St. Lawrence river, they went further south and made a settle- 
ment in what is now Nova Scotia, which they called Port Royal. 
They passed a cape which they named Cape Breton, and went into 
the long neck of the bay beside it. This they called La Fond de la 
Bale, which is French for "end of the bay." The English in later 
years called this Fonda bay, and it came to be called bay of Fundy. 



THE FOUNDING OF NEW FRANCE. 



121 



Part of the colonists stayed at Port Royal, and part went with X)e 
Monts to Passamaquoddy Bay. Champlain cruised down the coast 
and discovered an island which he called Mt. Desert; then he went 
back to Port Royal and wintered, and the next spring he went down 
the coast again and explored all the harbors and bays as far south as 
Cape Cod. He learned many things on this voyage, among them 
how the Indians cultivated corn, how they made canoes out of logs, 
and how they caught fish. Champlain made careful notes of all that 
he saw and heard. The next year he sailed as far south as Martha's 




THE RAPIDS OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. 



Vineyard and then went back to France. But two months later he 
came back again with some colonists and went up the St. Lawrence 
to found a city. Where the broad waters of this river narrowed 
under a great overhanging rock it was determined to found a town. 
The Indians called this place Qaebio, which means "the narrows," 
and the French named their town Quebec. 

Champlain now promised the Indians that if they would agree 
to guide him on an exploring expedition he would take their part in 
fighting the Iroquois nation, with whom they were at war. So with 



122 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

a number of Indians and eleven Frenchmen, all armed, Cham plain 
started in boats up the St. Lawrence. It was a difficult journey, for 
the upper waters of that river and of the Richelieu river, — a branch 
up which they sailed, — are filled with waterfalls. Before they had 
passed more than one or two of the rapids eight of the Frenchmen 
got discouraged and went back ; but Champlain went on with only 
two countrymen and the Indians, and was rewarded by finding 
a beautiful lake which he called by his name, and which has ever 
since been known as Lake Champlain. On the borders of this lake, 
he fought and defeated the Iroquois Indians, who fled in terror 
before the fire of his guns. 

Champlain during the following three years made two voyages 
to France, and back again to the new country. He then planned an 
expedition to explore the country to the northwest. In 1610, a 
young Frenchman, named De Vignau, had gone t6 live with the 
Algonquins, and in 1612, returned to Paris, with many stories of his 
wonderful adventures. He said that he had journeyed to the source 
of the Ottawa, where he had found a great lake. This he had crossed 
and entered a river flowing northward. Going down this river, he 
came to the shores of a sea, and here had seen the wreck of an English 
ship, whose crew had been killed by Indians. Champlain was in 
Paris when De Vignau came there with these stories, and as he knew 
nothing of the geography of New France, but believed, as all the 
other explorers did, that a passage would be found through the new 
continent to the sea on the other side, he readily credited the young 
man's tales, and was eager to visit the country. 

May 27, 1613, Champlain left Montreal with four Frenchmen — 
one of whom was Vignau — and one Indian, in two small canoes. They 
sailed up the Ottawa river, carrying their canoes around the rapids in 
the river, till they reached the country of the Algonquins, where Vignau 
had stayecL They went to the village of Tessouat, a famous chief, who 
received them very kindly. But when Champlain asked for four ca- 
noes and eight men, to visit the country of the Nipissings, a tribe of 
Indians to the northward, great objections were made. The Algon- 
quins were not friends with the Nipissings, and they told Champlain 
that he never could get to the country because of the rough roads, 



THE FOUNDING OF NEW FRANCE. 



123 



and the rapids in the river. Besides, the Nipissings were a wicked 
people, and would kill the white men with charms and poisons. 

"We are afraid of losing our white chief," they said, "if we let 
you go to the land of these bad Indians." 

"But," said Champlain, "this young man has been to the 
Nipissing country, and did not find the road or the people so bad as 
you say." 

The Indian chief turned to Vignau, whom he knew well. 
" Nicholas," he said, "did you say you had been to the land of the 
Nipissings?" 

Vignau sat still. 
Then he said, " Yes, I 
have been there." 

" You are a liar," 
said the Indian. 
'' You know you slept 
among my children 
every night, and got 
up with them in the 
morning, and if you 
went to the Nipissing 
country, it must have 
been when you were 
asleep. How could 
you lie to your chief, 
and bring him into 
such perils? You 
ought to be killed." 

The young man 
would not answer at 
first, but the Indians 
made such a great out- 
cry that Champlain insisted on knowing the truth, and at last 
Vignau confessed that all his stories of an exploration of the coun- 
try to the north were false. Champlain then returned, very much 
disappointed, to Montreal. He did not punish the young man 




SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN. 



124 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

who had deceived him so, but told him to go away, where he 
(Champlain) could never see him again. 

Champlain, on his next visit to Paris, found some good monks 
whom he induced to come back to New France with him and preach 
the gospel to the Indians. With iheir help he founded a college in 
Quebec for the education of the red men. From this time he made 
Quebec his home, and died there on Christmas day, 1635, and was 
buried there. Champlain was one of the best and greatest of the 
New World pioneers. No man did more than he for the development 
of the French colonies. 




THE CRUISE OF THE GOLDEN HIND. 

1572—1580. 

T WAS not to be expected that England, whose people were 
one of the most active and adventurous races of the world, 
could quietly see other nations of Europe taking possession 
of all the great, new country that had been lately discov- 
ered. They held back for a number of years, as I told 
you, because they did not want to oppose a decree of the 
pope — who had divided the new lands between Spain and 
Portugal, — and because they did not want to run the risk of a war 
with either of these countries. Both Spain and Portugal were very 
powerful on the sea in the sixteenth century, that is, they had many 
ships and sailors, very many more than England had, — but England's 
turn to be a great power was coming. 

There were two reasons why the importance and strength of Eng- 
land began to increase in the latter part of the sixteenth century. In 
the first place, the king, Henry VIII, had a quarrel with the pope. 
This quarrel was no credit to the king, but one of its results was 
that he no longer troubled himself to respect the division which the 
pope had made of the lands of the New World. But at the same 
time, being afraid that the pope would punish him by sending the 
Spaniards or some others to make war on him, this king began to 
fortify the English coast, and build large ships for the English navy. 
In the second place, the religious wars had driven a great many of 
the artisans of Europe to England, and that country, which previous 
to that time had been an agricultural country almost altogether, 
began to take part in manufactures, and of course it wanted ships to 
take the cloth and other goods made there, to other countries to sell, 
for on its little island there was not market enoue^h for all these 
goods. At that time England began to be a great trading country, 

125 



126 STORIES OF TIEE THREE AMERICAS. 

and has been such ever since. So the English people built many 
ships, and the more they sailed over the seas the more adventurous 
they became, and the more eager to engage in all kinds ol trade. 
One very bad trade the English began to take part in about this time, 
and that was the slave trade, taking poor negroes from Africa, and 
selling them as slaves in various countries. The Spaniards who had 
taken possession of the West India islands, Mexico and South 
America, were not at all inclined to take hold of the work of tilling 
the ground for food, or working the mines they found for gold and 
silver. But as they must have food and they would have gold, they 
forced the Indians to do the work. And when the Indians perished 
under the burden of these terrible labors, then they brought in 
negroes to work for them. They were just as cruel to the negroes as 
they had been to the Indians, but the negroes were stronger and 
could endure much more than the Indians could. 

Whenever men see others getting rich in any way, no matter 
how wicked the way is, they want to try it too, so as to get a share of 
the gains. And if they find profit in it, they always find some way 
of smoothing over the wickedness, so that their consciences will not 
trouble them for continuing to secure the gain. So, if any kind- 
hearted people said that it was cruel and very wrong to steal the 
poor negroes from their country, and take them to a strange land 
and sell them like beasts, others, who looked only at the money that 
could be made that way, said that it was perfectly right, for the savages 
might learn Christianity if they were slaves in Christian lands, while 
if they were left in their own land they would always be heathen I 
This foolish argument, which was an insult to the true spirit of 
Christianity, would not, we are sure, have been listened to by good 
men, if the fact of the gain in the slave trade had not blinded their 
eyes to its true wicked nature. This is such a good plan for the 
white man, they thought, that it must be in some way good for tne 
black man ! And for two hundred years and more this foolish talk 
was believed in by men who were really sensible, wise and good. 

Among the most noted of English captains who owned slave 
ships and brought negroes from Africa to America, was one named 
John Hawkins. He made much money and became very rich, and 
Queen Elizabeth, who was then on the English throne, gave him the 



THE CRUISE OF THE GOLDEN HIND. 



127 



title of Sir John Hawkins. With him on several of his voyages 
there went a dashing young fellow named Francis Drake. This 



;oing 



from the New 



b 



young man, seeing so many Spanish ships 
World to Spain, and being told that many of these ships were 
loaded with gold and silver, made up his mind that he would have 
some of their treasures, if he was strong enough to take it. England 
and Spain were not at war then, but the English hated the Span- 
iards bitterly. Besides, they said, the Spanish are all robbers, and 
it is no sin to take from them what they have stolen. 

So Drake sailed in 1572 with two ships, and it was his plan to 
capture the port of Nombre de Dios, on the Isthmus of Darien, where 
the silver and gold taken from the In- 
dians in Mexico and Peru were brought 
to be loaded on strong vessels, called 
galleons, and carried to Spain. The 
Spanish had found out that he was com- 
ing and they had all their big guns out 
and managed to drive the English vessels 
off. But Drake went on south and took 
several treasure ships, plundered their 
wealth and then landed to explore the 
country. He went a long distance inland 
and then climbed a high mountain, 
from which, the Indians told him, he 

could see the great western sea. He saw it, spread out before him, 
in measureless expanse, the great ocean that Balboa had discovered 
sixty years before, down which Pizarro had sailed to plunder 
Peru, and across which Magellan had guided his small vessels. He 
saw some ships upon it, here and there near the coast, all carrying 
the Spanish flag. And he made a mighty vow, as he gazed, that he 
would carry the flag of England on those wide waters. 

Then Drake went home and told his wonderful story, and in 
1577 he had an expedition ready, consisting of five ships, and 164 
men, with which he started out to explore the great western ocean. 
If he could get nothing from the countries he found, he thought, 
he was sure of good profits by robbing the vessels of the Spanish 
and Portuguese. He sailed toward Brazil, followed the coast to 




tjk 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 



128 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICA.S. 

the wide mouth of the Rio de la Plata, then passed along the shores 
of Patagonia where Magellan's sailors had seen men with such big 
feet. The ships passed safely through the rough waters of the Straits 
of Magellan, but when they were through they met a terrible storm 
which nearly ended the voyage and the story of the bold Drake. 
This carried their vessels far to the south again. They saw the 
great southern sea of ice, the Antarctic Ocean, and were the first 
European voyagers to see the southernmost point of the land ol 
America. One of the ships was lost in this storm and the others 
were widely scattered. One vessel went back to England, its captain 
being discouraged, but Drake was not to be turned aside from his 
great ambition by so small a thing as a storm. He was on one of 
the larger vessels of the fleet, the Golden Hind. After the storm had 
passed he cruised northward along the coast, on the lookout for 
Spanish vessels. In Callao, the port of the city of Lima, there was a 
whole fleet of merchant ships, and Drake plundered seventeen of 
them, getting almost more treasure than his one ship could carry. 
The Spanish vessels apparently did not carry guns, or we doubt 
whether they could have been robbed so easily. 

Drake's plan was to sail up to the northernmost point of 
America and go home by the northwest passage. Like all others 
of that time, he was very certain that the western continent had 
a navigable waterway around it by the north as well as by the 
south. However, he did not go far enough to find out his mistake. 
He sailed along the coast of California, which he did not know to be 
a country of gold or he would have certainly appropriated it, 
and then, as many of his crew were sick, and he feared to land 
among the savages, he set sail westward. He crossed the Pacific, 
touching at several groups of islands south of Asia. Then he sailed 
across the Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and 
on Sept. 26, 1580, the Golden Hind cast anchor safely in the port of 
London. 

The Londoners greeted the explorer with wild enthusiasm, and 
courtiers eagerly brought the story of his wonderful deeds to the 
queen. She was at first in much perplexity. Here was a man who 
had been plundering the vessels of another nation in time of peace, 
and for his deeds the whole country might yet be dragged into a war 



THE CRUISE OF THE GOLDEN HIND 129 

with Spain. The laws of the land forbade })iracy and Drake had 
been a pirate; there was no doubt about that. But the people were 
all on the side of Drake, for they believed that the Spanish were fair 
game wherever they were found, and the queen at last concluded 
that the people must be light. So she made Drake a knight, and 
when he invited her to a grand banquet on board his ship, the 
Golden Hind, she graciously consented to go. After that the Golden 
Hind was kept in the harbor for a show, and piracy became 
the fashionable occupation for young men of spirit. The Spanish 
galleons sailed the seas in terror of the plundering Englishmen, but 
after a few years Spain thought she had borne such insolence long 
enough and prepared a great fleet that was meant to sweep the En- 
glish ships from the seas. This was the Spanish Armada, which was 
the grandest array of vessels ever put on the sea by any power. It 
was sent to invade England, but was met in the English Channel by 
the "Queen's navee," with Drake in command. The great fleet was 
disabled and driven back, and a terrible storm then came up which 
quite destroyed it. From this time the English power increased 
steadily upon the sea and the Spanish power grew less. And it was 
not long before Englishmen had made up their minds to take pos- 
session of the New World, and have some of the gold and glory that 
the Spaniards had hitherto wholly claimed. 




ENGLISH EXPLORERS IN THE NEW WORLD. 

1579—1586. 

^^"^ URING the year before Francis Drake got back to England 
from his voyage round the world in the Golden Hind, Sir 
Humphrey Gilbert, a noble and generous English gentle- 
man, had received from Queen Elizabeth a patent or right, 
for starting a colony in America. You see that though at 
this time there were many rich people in England, there 
were also many who were poor, and many who were idle 
because, they claimed, there was nothing for them to do. And Sir 
Humphrey Gilbert and other good men said, "Why cannot we take 
some of these poor people over to the New World, where they will 
have a better chance to get on than they have here, and where they 
can have homes without paying so much for them?" So Sir 
Humphrey fitted out a ship and got together a colony to go with 
him, and he took also a gallant young man, his half-brother, whose 
name was Walter Kaleigh. Raleigh, when but seventeen years old, 
had gone to France to fight in aid of the Huguenots, and then he 
had gone to help the people of the Netherlands, who were fighting 
against a tyrannous government that the king of Spain was trying to 
force upon them. He was a gallant young man, fearless and fond of 
adventure, and quite ready to take part in his brother's plans. This 
plan was not successful, however, for of the two vessels, one was lost 
in a storm, and the other was attacked by a Spanish cruiser. There 
was no war between Spain and England, oh, no! but the Spaniards 
were trying to get even for some of Francis Drake's performances. 

Sir Humphrey had put so much money in this expedition that 
it was some years before he was able to fit out another. In the 
meantime the restless young Raleigh enlisted as an officer in the 
troops that were sent to put down a rebellion in Ireland. After 

130 



ENGLISH EXPLORERS IN THE NEW WORLD. 131 

he came back he chanced to have a fine opportunity to secure royal 
favor. The queen was one day out for a walk in the royal park, 
when she came to a wide, miry place in the path, for there had been 
recent heavy rains. The courtiers in attendance did not see any 
way to bridge over the dreadful spot but instantly there stepped from 
the crowd of bystanders a handsome youth, who threw over the mire 
a fine, velvet cloak from his own shoulders so that the queen could 
pass over dry-shod. When she had crossed, she called the young man 
to her side, and off'ered to pay for his ruined finery. With a low 
bow he said that all he asktd was permission to keep the cloak 
which her majesty had deigned to step on. 

"What is your name?" asked the queen. "Walter Raleigh, 
most gracious lady," was the answer, and the royal party passed on; 
but the queen saw in the gallant young man the promise of a noble 
courtier and the next day Raleigh was made one of the guards of the 
royal household. 

Raleigh used the influence he had obtained with the queen to 
accomplish his most cherished desire, which was to take a colony to 
the New World. Drake had now come back, and the story of his 
exploits was a strong stimulus to young men to try for like advent- 
ures. Raleigh was too honorable to want to go into the pirate 
business as Drake had done. But he pressed upon the queen the 
fact that the colonization of the New World by Englishmen would 
extend England's trade, even if they did not find any gold mines. 
And then they might find gold, for Drake had brought back with 
him the story of an El Dorado in the northern country as rich as the 
Peru which had been conquered by the Spaniards. 

In 1583 the queen granted another patent to Sir Humphrey 
Gilbert, giving him authority to "inhabit and fortify all land in 
America, not yet taken by Christian nations." He gathered a colony, 
most of them being poor people out of work. He sailed with five 
ships which all reached Newfoundland safely, but finding it too cold 
and foggy to live in, they set sail in search of warmer lands. But 
they were overtaken in a storm, and all the ships but one were lost. 
Sir Humphrey's ship, the Squirrel, went down with all on board. 
The last that the friends of this good and noble man, on the other 
vessels, heard of him, was his voice calling to them through the 



132 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

gathering storm, — "Do not fear, we are as near heaven by sea as by- 
land. " 

Sir Walter Raleigh had intended to go with Gilbert, but an 
accident had prevented him. However, he was not held back by the 
sad fate of his brother from attempting a similar expedition himself. 
The queen had given him a section of land one hundred miles square 
on which he might plant a colony, and be its lord proprietor. 
Raleigh then fitted out two ships at his own expense, and taking 
such people as were willing to seek their fortune in the new country, 
he put the wnole expedition in the hands of two captains— Amidas 
and Barlowe. It took these people a long time to reach the new 
land, as they sailed by the Canary Islands and the West Indies, and 
it was July when they reached America although they started in 
April. They stopped at the coast on Roanoke Island and after sail- 
ing about in Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds for a few days they all 
went home, none being brave enough to stay so far away. They 
were pleased with the land which they had visited, and told so much 
of its beauty that Sir Walter Raleigh named it Virginia, so that 
every one would remember that it was discovered in the reign of the 
Virgin Queen. 

Raleigh was disappointed that no one had stayed to start the 
new colony, but the people were so pleased with what the first voy- 
agers told of the western land that it was now easier to persuade 
tham to go, and the next year a much larger number set sail under 
Sir Richard Grenville. These also landed on Roanoke Island, where 
they were kindly received by the native Indians, and Sir Richard 
Grenville, after doing what he could to provide the people with suit- 
able shelter, returned to England for provisions. 

After the ships were gone the people grew very lonely. They 
did not work but spent the time exploring and hunting for gold. 
They were not kind to the Indians and tried to make sure of their 
own safety by being so cruel as to frighten the savages. This was 
not easy to do, as the more cruelties the white man practiced the more 
warlike the Indians became. 

The colonists were growing lightened and homesick, when Sir 
Francis Drake on his way home om a pirate trip to the West Indies 
stopped to see how Raleigh's co ^ony was prospering. The people 



ENGLISH EXPLORERS IN THE NEW WORLD. 



133 



begged so hard to be taken home that although Drake told thera that 
he and his sailors would build a fort for their safety and leave them 
plenty of provisions, they insisted that he must take them away, and 
so Raleigh's second colony failed. 

The returned colonists brought to Sir Walter many of the 
products of the country, and among other things some tobacco which 
they told him the Indians burned in pipes, drawing the smoke 
through their mouths. It is probable that Raleigh had seen tobacco 
before, and he now proceeded to use it. As he sat in his room draw- 
ing the smoke into his mouth 
and breathing it out, a servant 
came in with a pitcher of 
water. The man had never 
seen any one smoke before, 
and for a moment he stood 
still much astonished, and then 
dashing the contents of the 
pitcher into his master's face 
he darted down to the kitchen, 
crying that his master was on 
fire and the smoke pouring out 
of his mouth and nose. 

There is another good 
story told of Raleigh's tobacco 
pipe. One day he laid a 

wager with the queen that he could weigh the smoke that came 
from his pipe. The queen laughed at the idea. Then Sir Walter 
weighed a small quantity of tobacco and put it into his pipe. 
When it had all been burned out he weighed the ashes left in the 
bowl of the pipe, and told the queen that the difference between the 
weight of the ashes and the weight of the tobacco was the weight of 
the smoke. The queen paid him his wager good naturedly, saying 
that she had heard of alchemists who had turned their gold into 
smoke, but he was the first man who had been able to turn smoke 
into gold. 




SIR WALTER RALEIGH AND HIS PIPE. 




THE LOST COLONY OF ROANOKE. 

1587—1618. 

IR WALTER RALEIGH was not discouraged at the failure 
of his colonies. The queen had made him a knight, and 
had extended his grant largely. So he prepared another 
expedition, and this time decided to send out families, 
thinking they would be more likely to stay contentedly. 
This expedition was in charge of Captain John White, and 
consisted mainly of farmers and mechanics and their wives. 

After Drake had brought Raleigh's second colony away from 
Roanoke Island, Sir Robert Grenville reached there with supplies 
and more colonists. Fiuding no one there, he strengthened the fort 
on the island, and left fifteen men to hold possession of England's 
territory. How do you suppose these poor men felt, left alone in 
the wilderness thus with savages? You may guess how they felt, 
for no one knows, as none of them were ever seen or heard of again. 
When the third colony came out under John White as governor, 
the first thing that they did was to look for these men. But no 
trace of them could be found except a few whitened bones. It is 
probable that the Indians killed them in revenge for the cruelties that 
had been previously committed by the white men. The colonists 
then established themselves on the island and built houses and forti- 
fications. Rileigh had advised them to be kind to the Indians, and 
so when one of the chiefs came to visit them they made him a knight, 
and gave him the title of Lord of Roanoke. It seems strange enough 
that the colonists should have fancied that giving an Indian a large 
title would make him any the less a savage. 

For a while all went well with the colony. They spent their time 
in making their houses ready for the coming winter. They really 
hoped to be contented and happy in tleir new homes. On the 18th 

134 



THE LOST COLONY OF ROANOKE. 135 

of August, 1587, a little baby girl came to them, the first white child 
of English parents born in the New World. Her mother was Mrs. 
Dare, a daughter of the governor, John White, and she was named 
Virginia, after the land to which she had come. 

Two weeks after the little baby came, its grandfather, Governor 
White, sailed for England again. The colonists begged him to go to 
bring them supplies, for they thought that if their crops should not 
be good, they would be out of food before the winter was over. So 
he went back, intending to get some supplies as quick as he could, 
and set sail on his return journey in a few weeks. 

One of the hardest things to see and bear in life, is the way in 
which the good and wise plans of men are overturned by circum- 
stances which they cannot control. When Captain White got back 
to England he found everybody in a state of terror over a threatened 
Spanish invasion. Just about the time the colonists' ships had 
sailed away. Sir Francis Drake had entered the harbor at Cadiz, 
Spain, and had sunk, burned or captured all the shipping there. He 
said that he "had singed the Spanish king's beard," and he thought 
that ruler would not try to take revenge, but he was mistaken. 
King Philip immediately put all his great wealth into the fitting out 
of the great fleet that was intended to destroy the English navy, and 
to carry an army large enough to invade and plunder England itself. 

You know that they did not succeed, that with the help of 
a storm, Drake and other bold English captains scattered and de- 
stroyed the entire fleet. This was in July, 1588. The war slill went 
on, and poor Captain White was distracted with anxiety about his 
little grandchild, his daughter and the other colonists. But Raleigh 
did not forget the needs of these poor people, and in a few months had 
a small vessel fitted out with supplies and ready to start, but before it 
sailed the government seized it, — saying that all the ships and sup- 
plies belonged to the army in time of danger, — and sent it off to the 
aid of Sir Francis Drake who was plundering in Spanish waters 
again. Raleigh and White were angry enough, but there was no help 
in the case. So they fitted out another ship as soon as they could 
and started it on its way to the colony. But the captain of this ves- 
sel was a selfish, heartless man, and as soon as he was out of sight of 



136 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

land, he turned his vessel to the south and went on a pirate expedi- 
tion against the Spaniards in the West Indies. 

Alas for the poor colonists! Captain White, hearing nothing 
from the second vessel, could not rest until he was able to go out 
himself, with a ship of supplies. It was the spring of 1590 before he 
was actually on his way back to America again. We may imagine, 
if we can, the feelings of this good old man as he sailed over the sea, 
the anxious longing, the mingled hope and fear, that filled his heart. 
His vessel caught sight of the shore of Roanoke Island just as night 
was falling. As they steered cautiously into the harbor where they 
had anchored before, they saw a point of light among the trees. The 
hope of happy meetings with old and dear friends filled him and his 
men with delight. But when they made their way ashore in a small 
boat, they looked about, they called aloud, they blew the shrill notes 
of a trumpet, in vain. When day came they explored the entire 
island, but found no one there, though traces of the lost colonists 
were to be found in torn books, goods of various kinds, and the word 
CRO ATAN carved on the bark of a large tree. 

What did this mean ? Captain White thought that he knew. 
When he left the colonists he told them that should it seem neces- 
sary for them to go away, they must carve on a door-post or tree the 
name of the place to which they had gone. He told them too, that 
should they leave in distress or need, they must carve a cross beside 
this name. The name was there without the cross. This gave the 
anxious father hope, and he set sail again for the island known as 
Croatan. No trace of the colonists were found there, and the ship's 
crew then went to the mainland and spent some time in search, and in 
endeavoring to learn from the Indians something about the missing 
people. But it was all in vain, and to this day nothing is known of 
the fate of the lost colony of Roanoke. 

Sir Walter sent several vessels in search of the lost colonists but 
it was of no use. This brave man had now spent large sums of 
money for which he had received nothing in return, and was obliged 
to give up his colonization plans. About this time he married one 
of the queen's maids of honor, and by so doing made the queen, who 
was an exceedingly unreasonable woman, very angry, and lost his 
place at court. But by 1594, he had managed to get up an exploring 



THE LOST COLONY OF ROANOKE. 



137 



expedition to South America in search of gold. He visited Guiana, 
and when he came back, published such a glowing description of the 
country, that he had quite won back the favor of the queen again. 
He was preparing 
for still another ex- 
ploring journey of 
the same kind, 
when the queen 
died. The king 
who then came to 
the throne, James 
I, seemed always to 
be thinking that 
some one was plot- 
ting to take the 
throne away from 
him, and for some 
reason his suspicion 
fell on Raleigh, 
who was therefore 
put in a great prison 
called "The Tower." 
Soon after this he 
was tried, but there 
was not much jus- 
tice in the trial 
though Raleigh 
tried hard for his 
release. Being a 
very eloquent man 
he pleaded his own 
case, and it is said 

that he spoke all day from early in the morning until late at night, so 
that many who came as enemies went away friends ; but it was of no 
use, he was condemned to die on the scaffold. For some reason the 
execution was delayed, perhaps through the friendship of young 
prince Henry, who was very fond of the brave courtier. 




THE COI.ONISTS PREPARING TO LEAVE THE ISLAND. 



lf?R STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAb. 

The imprisonment lasted many long years, and Raleigh spent 
the time writing a history of the world, which he dedicated to the 
prince who befriended him. At the end of twelve years, Raleigh, 
who had been a great sea rover in his day and had heard many stories 
of hidden gold mines, proposed to the king to bring a cargo of gold 
for his release. After a long time, the king finally consented, and, 
giving securities for his return, Sir Walter paid for his own ships 
and set sail. This was a very unfortunate expedition, for Raleigh 
not only failed to find gold but fell into a quarrel with his old 
enemies, the Spaniards, who denounced him to King James as a 
pirate. So instead of gaining liberty and honor, he was thrust back 
into prison with vile reproaches, and condemned to die under hij 
old sentence passed fifteen years before. 

He met his death like the brave man that he was, asking that 
he might be executed early in the morning, for he had the ague and 
if he waited till the chill came on, his enemies might say that he 
trembled for fear. His request was granted and in the morning the 
great courtier laid his gray head upon the block. He took the axe 
in his hand as he did so, and felt its keen edge, saying — " ' Tis a sharp 
medicine but 'twill cure all ills." Then closing his eyes he moved 
his lips in prayer, when the axe fell and Raleigh's troubles were 
ended. 




THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

1606—1608. 

N THE coast of Lincolnshire, Eng., in about the middle of 
the sixteenth century, there was born a boy who received 
the name of John Smith. Not a very remarkable name, 
but he was a remarkable boy, being strong, active and 
enterprising beyond his years, so that while yet a child he 
was apprenticed to a merchant of the town. 

It was very good work but the boy could not content 
himself between four walls nor yet within the limits of the small 
town, so at the age of fourteen he ran away to join the wars in Hol- 
land. After four years of service, it is said that he built a hut for 
himself in the woods, where he lived alone for a year studying 
military tactics. He then set out for the East where the Christians 
were fighting against the Turks. 

As he was passing through France, the young adventurer lost his 
purse and was obliged to beg to keep himself from starvation, but he 
reached the south of France in safety and there embarked on a vessel 
bound for Italy. When this ship was well out at sea, a violent 
storm arose so that they were nearly wrecked, and the sailors, being 
very superstitious, thought that they were troubled because of the 
stran-ger who was not of their religion, and to save the vessel 
Smith was cast overboard to swim ashore as best he might. Just on 
what coast he landed we are not sure, but he next made his way to 
Austria and set out under the flag of that country to fight the 
Turks. 

Smith was always daring and adventurous and soon won for 
himself a great name in the following manner. One day before the two 
armies had met, a Turkish officer, for the amusement of the ladies of 
the C9,mp, offered to fight single handed with any officer of the Aus- 
trian army. For answer Smith rode into the list. They fought on 

139 



140 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICANS. 

horseback and after one or two encounters the Englishman unhorsed 
his enemy, and soon carried off his head upon a spear, after the 
barbarous custom in that country. A friend of the first Turk rode 
out to avenge his comrade's death and he too lost his head. Then 
Smith, being twice victorious, came forward with a great show of 
politeness and said that if the Turkish ladies wanted any more 
amusement he would be glad to furnish it if any one else would 
come to meet him. In a short time another Turk rode forward Tt 
may have been that Smith was tired now for in the first encounter he 
was thrown from his horse and all his friends thought him dead, but 
he was up the next moment and fought so gallantly that the third 
head was soon on his lance, and after this the Turkish ladies did not 
ask for any more such entertainment. 

In one of the great battles that followed. Captain Smith was 
taken prisoner and, as was the custom among the Turks, he became 
the slave of his captor. There was a heavy iron ring put around his 
neck and he was made to do the work about the house. He soon 
pleased his mistress so much with his gentleness and bravery that 
she, hoping to receive kindly treatment for him, sent him to her 
brother in a distant town. 

But the new master was worse than the old and treated Smith 
with such bitter cruelty that the slave killed the master to save his 
own life. Then, as the discovery of the deed meant certain death. 
Smith dressed himself in the dead man's clothes and, passing for a 
Turk, made his way to the border of Russia. 

Once again in a Christian country, the young Englishman felt 
himself safe and traveled at his ease through Germany, France and 
Spain, from which latter country he made his way to London where 
the fame of his brave deeds had gone before him. He reached Eng- 
land just after the London Company had been formed to trade and 
make settlements in Virginia. They were now preparing to send 
out a large colony, and thinking Smith's bravery and love of adven- 
ture would be of great use in a new country they asked him to go 
along. He was quite ready to go as he w^as always ready for a new 
adventure, and in December, 160G, he sailed with the colony from 
the coast of England. 

There was some trouble on the voyage. The king had arranged 



THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 



141 



that the colony should be governed by twelve councilmen, but had 
placed the names of these men in a sealed envelope which was not to 
be opened until the vessels reached Virginia. So there was consider. 
able quarrelling as to which was the greatest, and many, becoming 
jealous of the fame of Captain Smith, said that he was planning to 
kill all the members of the council and make himself governor of 
the colony. Some pretended to believe this story and to fear for 
their lives, so Smith was 
put in irons and kept so 
until they reached the land. 

The land which the peo- 
ple first saw was two capes, 
to which they gave the 
names Cape Charles and 
Cape Henry after the two 
sons of King James. They 
then sailed up a broad and 
beautiful river which we 
call the James River even 
yet, after the king who had 
sent these vessels across the 
ocean. A short distance up 
the river the people landed 
and prepared to build a vil- 
lage, which they called 
Jamestown in honor of their sovereign. Here they opened their papers 
from the king and finding Smith was one of the councilmen they dared 
no longer keep him in irons. The councilmen would not let him sit 
in their meetings at first, but Smith demanded a trial for that of 
which they accused him, and when they found that nothing could be 
proved they could no longer keep him from the council, hue no one 
would listen to his advice. 

The colony was not one that would succeed in a new country, for 
there were forty- eight gentlemen who had come thinking to pick up 
gold on the sands, and only twelve men who were willing to work. 
Smith's advice was that they should set out their gardens in the 
spring and then if they wanted gold they might seek it afterwards. 




CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 



142 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

But, as I said before, they would not listen to him, spending their time 
grubbing around the tree trunks and digging in the sand, so that even 
the Indians laughed to see white men spend the time of growth in 
digging for gold which could give them neither food, clothes or shelter 
when the hard winter came on. 

When Smith found no one would aid him in his plans he set out 
with Newport and several others to explore the country. This took 
several weeks and at the end of that time Newport set sail for England, 
promising to return the following year with food and men. The 
colonists had a dreary time after the ships were gone. They were 
very lonely and so many of their number were taken sick that at one 
time there were but five men to guard the colony. 

Smith was still ignored in the colony, but after two of the 
presidents had tried to steal their provisions and run away in their 
only boat, the people began to wonder if Captain Smith was as bad 
as his fellows said. So when the council had come down to only two 
men. Smith and Martin, and Martin elected Smith to be president of 
the colony, no one made any objections. 

Soon after Smith became president, great changes were made in 
the colony. It was too late to raise corn for the coming winter, but 
at least houses could be built for shelter, and the energetic captain 
at once undertook to show the fine gentlemen how to chop wood. 
They did not like it, but a new law was passed which said that he 
who will not work shall not eat, and that kept every one pretty busy. 
Then, to prevent cursing or evil speech, any one who offended in this 
way had a cup of cold water poured down his sleeve at night. 

As soon as the houses were finished and a fortification built for 
protection against the Indians, Smith set his people to work on a 
storehouse and then started out to buy from the Indians enough food 
to fill it. It was very dangerous to go in among the savage tribes 
with no knowledge of their language, but the captain undertook it 
with only five men. Sailing up the James River he went into the 
first village and made signs that he would like to buy corn in 
exchange for hatchets and beads. The Indians knew the starving 
condition of the white people, and undertook to drive a hard bargain 
by offering to trade a piece of bread for Smith's sword and musket. 

Smith saw that they were mocking nim and signed to his men to 



THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 143 

fire off their guns. Frightened at the noise, the Indians ran yelling 
into the woods and Smith and his men went into the village and 
mounted guard over the stores of corn. Soon the Indians came back, 
headed by one who carried in his arms a painted idol. The English- 
men fired again, driving the Indians back and capturing the idol. 
The savages were now much frightened and seemed ready to 
do anything if Smith would give up the little wooden image. 
But the captain placed his musket on it and signed that his boat 
must be filled with corn. When this was done he gave back the 
idol, paid for the corn with hatchets and beads, and sailed down the 
river leaving the Indians satisfied and friendly. 

After this other Indians began to bring provisions to the village 
and before winter the store house was well filled. As soon as cold 
weather came on so that no more work could be done. Smith set out 
with a few Englishmen and two Indian guides to explore the coun- 
try. They sailed up the Chickahominy River, for many thought 
this led to the Pacific Ocean, and Smith let his men think so as it 
made them more willing to follow him. But this expedition was 
the most unfortunate that the governor of Jamestown had ever 
undertaken. 



THE STORY OF THE LADY REBECCA. 




1608—1631. 

APTAIN SMITH'S journey up the Chickahominy had 
strange and important consequences as you will learn. 

After he had gone a long distance up the river, Smith 
went ashore with his Indian guide and told the other two 
Englishmen to stay by the canoe with the other guide* 
and "boyle the pott" for supper. He had not gone very 
far when he heard loud cries from the direction of the 
canoe, and soon all was still. He rightly judged that the men he 
had left behind had been attacked and killed. He immediately took 
a string and tied the Indian with him fast to his arm, for he knew 
that he would be attacked also. Suddenly an arrow came whizzing 
out of the bushes, striking Smith in the thigh. Holding his guide 
before him as a shield, the brave explorer began to walk backward 
toward the boat, firing his pistol whenever he saw an Indian. As he 
could not thus see where he was going he got into a quagmire where 
he and his guide sank up to their waists. Escape was, of course, 
now impossible. Smith therefore surrendered, and the Indians 
pulled them out of the mud, built a fire, warmed and dried him, and 
took him before their king, Opechanacough, a brother of the great 
Powhatan. The Englishmen had heard of the latter king, who by 
his valor had conquered all the surrounding tribes, and really was a 
very remarkable man for a savage. Smith saw from the angry faces 
of the Indians that they wanted to kill him, so he took out a pocket 
compass and began to explain it to them, to distract their attention. 
Opechanacough was so much interested that he decided to send the 
captive to Powhatan. Arrived at the royal village, Smith was put 
under guard, in one of the wigwams, and food was brought to him. 
Indeed, so much more bread and venison was put before him every 

144 



THE SroUV OF THE LADY KEBECCA. 



146 



day, than he could eat, that it quite spoiled his appetite, for he 
thought that they were fattening him to kill and eat him. He saw 
that they were preparing for some great movement which, he rightly 
conjectured, was an attack upon Jamestown. He therefore asked 
for a messenger to send to the white men. One came forward, and 
Smith wrote a message to the governor, on a piece of bark, telling 
him that he, Smith, was safe, and bidding him treat the messengers 
well, but to frighten them with the cannon and to send back some 
trinkets by them. When the savages found that Smith could make 
a piece of wood speak they were 
more amazed than at the compass, 
and thought he must be a magician. 
But the king, Powhatan, having 
had several interviews with the 
stranger, decided that his magic was 
dangerous to the Indian and it 
would be the safest plan to kill him. 
King Powhatan had a favorite 
daughter, a sprightly, affectionate 
child of twelve years old, called 
Pocahontas. There is no doubt 
that there was a Pocahontas, though 
those historians who are always 
finding excuses to doubt what up 
to their time has been accepted 
history, now tell us that Smith's 
story about Pocahontas is false. 

There is no way of settling these questions now. Smith said 
that the Indians bound him and laid his head on a stone pre- 
paratory to beating his brains out with their clubs. But at that 
moment Pocahontas rushed up and put her arms about the captive's 
neck, and laid her head upon his to save him. Powhatan, 
therefore, ordered the captive to be unbound and led away under 
guard. It is a pretty story and we may believe it if we choose, in 
spite of the critical historians. Smith was kept in captivity for 
seven weeks, and spent his time making toys for Pocahontas and the 
other Indian children. Then Powhatan agreed to set him free in 




POCAHONTAS. 



146 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

exchange for two cannons and a grindstone. Smith was very glad 
to get his freedom on any terms, and returned to Jamestown in 
company with a number of warriors who were to take back the 
articles of exchange. 

On reaching the village, Smith treated the Indians very kindly 
and before they left offered to show them how to load the cannon. 
It was a bitter day in winter and the trees were heavy with icicles. 
Ordering his men to load the canncn with stone up to their very 
muzzles, the captain fired them into the tops of the icy trees. The 
roar of the cannon, together with the horrible rattle of the stones and 
icicles, was too much for the Indians ; they could not be induced to 
touch the great guns, but went home empty handed with wonderful 
s<^ories of the power of the white man. 

Smith's shrewdness was of gjreat use to the colonists. Through 
him the schemes which the wily Powhatan formed were detected and 
thwarted. The chief was very anxious to get possession of the guns 
and swords of the white men, and Newport was foolish enough to let 
him have some in exchange for corn; Smith, however, managed to 
get part of them back again, and he did his best to teach the colonists 
to be cautious in dealing with the Indians, to be truthful and kind 
but always firm and prudent. His teachings, however, had but 
little efi*ect. 

Pocahontas always remained a good friend to the white men. 
Once when she heard that they were starving, she herself with some 
messengers brought them supplies. At another time, when the Indians 
had formed a plot to attack the white settlement, she came alone 
during the night, through the woods, to warn Smith of the danger, 
though she knew that she would be killed if her people should find 
out what she had done. 

In 1609 Captain Smith was badly injured by an explosion of 
gunpowder, and went back to England and did not return. The 
lazy colonists were glad to have him go for he was always trying to 
keep them at work, but the industrious ones regretted his departure, 
as he was the best governor they had ever had. As soon as he was 
gone there was trouble with the Indians again. The people who had 
been too idle to raise grain, tried in vain to buy it from the savages, 
and all were reduced to terrible suffering through starvation. But 
for the arrival of help from England all would have died. 



THE STORY OF THE LADY REBECCA. 



147 



In 1613 one of the colonists captured Pocahontas and brought 
her to the colony. While she was there, a worthy Englishman, Mr. 
John Rolfe, fell in love with her, and taught her the doctrines of 
Christianity. Then 
she was baptized by 
the name of Rebec- 
ca, and in April, 
1614, was married 
to Rolfe. This wed- 
ding secured the 
lasting friendship 
of the powerful 
chief Powhatan, 
and for a long time 
there was no trou- 
ble with the In- 
dians. 

In 1616 Rolfe 
and his wife went 
to England. The 
Lady Rebecca, as 
the dusky beauty 
was called, attract- 
ed much attention 
at first, and was 
duly presented at 
court. The young 
couple nearly got 
into trouble, how- 
ever, for King 
James took it into 
his foolish head 

that Mr. Rolfe, a private gentleman, had committed high treason by 
marrying a princess. He imagined that Rolfe intended to claim 
Virginia as his wife's heritage, and set aside the claims of the English 
king. His courtiers had considerable difficulty in showing him how 
unfounded this notion was. It was not long, however, before he was 




COLONISTS CHOOSING WIVES. 



148 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

freed from this anxiety, for the poor Lady Rebecca died just as she 
was preparing to return to Virginia. 

The settlers of Jamestown did not come over in families as 
the early settlers of New England did, and that is one great reason 
why for the first ten years there was so much discontent in the 
colony, and so little effort was made to effect an enduring settlement. 
It was not until about 1615 that the colonists gave up the useless 
search for gold and began cultivating the soil. They began to plant 
tobacco, for the habit of indulging in this hitherto unknown weed 
spread very rapidly in England and Europe, and the first lot sent 
over sold rapidly at high prices. The company which had started 
the colony now saw an opportunity to get back some of the money 
that had been put into the enterprise, and to induce the colonists to 
stay out there and keep raising tobacco, they made arrangements to 
send out young women to be wives to the young men of the colony. 
You might think that this plan would not work well, but it seemed 
to. Both the young men and young women were allowed to choose 
their partners freely, and every young man who was thus suited, 
bound himself to send the company enough tobacco — one hundred 
and fifty pounds — to pay the cost of his wife's passage over. After this, 
the new settlers in Virginia became quite contented with their new 
homes, and there was no longer any doubt that the English would 
retain their hold in the new country. 

But what became of Captain John Smith ? Though he did not 
go back to Jamestown he did not lose his love for adventure. He 
went on a fur trading expedition in 1614. Besides getting a good 
cargo of furs and fish he explored the whole coast from Nova Scotia 
to Cape Cod, and made a map of it, which map he called New Eng- 
land. Thus this name was given to a part of the New World, which 
still retains it. Smith then made two attempts to take out a small 
colony to that country, but both were unsuccessful. Then he laid his 
plans for taking out a large colony and secured the promise of the 
title of Admiral of New England, when something occurred which 
robbed him of the glory of being the guardian protector of the north- 
ern colony as he had been of that of Jamestown. The rest of his 
life was passed in retirement, and in writing out his adventures. 
He died in 1631. 




THE VOYAGES OF HENRY HUDSON. 

1607—1611. 

'OU have heard the name of Henry Hudson, have you not? 
and you know that Hudson Bay and Strait, and the 
Hudson River, are called after him because he was the 
first white man to discover them. But do you know 
anything moi'e of this brave explorer than his name ? 
have you ever read anything about his daring voyages, 
and of the sad fate which at last befell him, after all his 
heroic deeds ? As I am pretty sure this will be quite a new story 
to you, I will tell you all about it. 

Among the many brave and adventurous spirits that helped in 
exploring the new world, there were few more daring than Henry 
Hudson. Heinrich Hudson, the Dutch historians call him, for as a 
discoverer he is claimed by both the English and the Dutch, as he 
served in the employ of both governments. 

So little is known of the early life of Hudson, that there is some 
doubt in what country he was born, but it is most probable that he 
was a native of England. When he first appears on the pages of 
history he was living in London, was married and had one son, per- 
haps other children. He was an intimate friend of John Smith, and 
about the same time that Smith was struggling with the idle colon- 
ists of Virginia, and trying to save them from starving to death 
through their own shiftlessness, Hudson was fighting his way through 
the ice fields of the north. How Hudson gained his skill as a navi- 
gator is not known, but possibly he may have sailed in some of the 
voyages of the latter part of the sixteenth century. 

Hudson made two voyages, at the expense of a company of 
London merchants, in search of a northern passage to the PJast 
Indies. The first was in 1607, and was by way of Greenland ; Mie 
second in 1608 by the north of Asia. From both the voyagers were 



150 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

obliged to return, having found nothing but ice-bergs and terrible 
north winds and storms. Hudson could find but ten men willing to 
brave the dangers of the northern seas the first time and but thirteen 
the second. In each voyage he had with him his little son, who was 
only eleven years old when he began to take part in his father's 
perilous voyages. On his second voyage Hudson took with him, as 
mate, a man named Robert Juet. This man Hudson wished to aid, 
because he had more education than most sailors. You shall learn 
how Juet requited the captain's kindness. 

There are some people who seem to be more determined by 
every failure, to carry out their plans. Hudson was one of this 
kind, and the fact that he had made two unsuccessful voyages, one 
in search of a northwest and the other in search of a northeast pas- 
sage, only made him more anxious than ever to try another voyage 
for a similar purpose. But the merchants of London who had ad- 
vanced most of the cost of these voyages, were very much discouraged, 
and did not want to make any more such attempts. Hudson, how- 
ever, was no\v^ known as a bold navigator, and the Dutch East India 
Company offered to fit out another expedition if he would take 
charge of it. They gave him command of a small vessel called the 
Half Moon^ with a crew of twenty men, Dutch and English. Robert 
Juet, who was mate on the last voyage, shipped with this crew. It 
left Amsterdam in March, 1609, with the object of pushing through 
to China by the northeast passage. But after sailing around the 
coast of Norway, and fighting for more than a fortnight with head- 
winds, continual fogs and ice, Hudson thought he would try the 
northwest. So he turned his vessel abort and sailed westward, and 
in July, 1609, cast anchor on the coast of Newfoundland. Here he 
stayed long enough to catch a good cargo of fish, and as the sailors 
were in no humor to go northward into the region of ice-bergs again, 
he cruised along the coast to the south, and soon entered a large bay 
at the mouth of a river. This was Penobscot Bay, on the coast of the 
present state of Maine. 

I am sorry to have to tell you of a very wicked thing done by 
the voyagers, while they were at this place. There is no reason to 
believe that it was done bv Hudson's wish, but for some reason he 
did not prevent it. The natives here were friendly and came to visit 



THE VOYAGES OF HENRY HUDSON. 



151 



the ship, and to bargain with the voyagers. They had a large village 
of wigwams near the shore. When the white men had got all the 
provisions and fine furs that they wanted from the Indians, twelve of 
them went on shore with muskets and drove the poor natives from 
their villages, killing a number of them and robbing them of all that 
the white men could carry to the ships. Then they set sail immedi- 
ately, as well they might, before the Indians could make any 
attempt to punish them for their dastardly act. 

Captain John Smith had told Hudson that south of Virginia 
there was a passage to the Western Ocean. Captain Smith had never 
proved this, but he was assure 
of it as if he had, and Hud- 
son quite believed him. So 
this captain gave his men the 
choice of going to China by 
the southern passage, or push- 
ing through the northwest 
again. You see he was as sure 
of this northwest passage as 
he was of the other, though he 
had no real evidence of the 
existence of either way. The 
sailors of course voted to go 
south, for they knew that 
whatever difficulties they met 
there, they would not be 
blocked up in the ice. 

So Hudson sailed to the south. He went ashore on Cape Cod, 
where he found " goodly grapes and rose trees," but the grapes were 
not ripe. Then his sailors went by Nantucket and Martha's Vine- 
yard, and continued south until they reached the entrance of 
Chesapeake Bay. They might have gone up the James river and 
had the pleasure of seeing Captain Smith and other Englishmen. 
But the weather was stormy at that time, and Hudson did not try to 
steer the Half Moon into the mouth of the river. He went south 
from there about a hundred miles, and then making up his mind 
lliat Captain Smith's story of an open passage to the Western Ocean, 




FISHING ON THE NEWFOUNDLAND BANKS. 



152 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

south of Virginia, was not founded on knowledge, he turned the 
prow of his ship and came northward again. He discovered Dela- 
ware Bay and explored its shores, but did not land. Going north, 
he found another bay, into which a wide and beautiful river flowed. 
Perhaps he fancied that he had found his long- desired passage at 
last, but he soon found his mistake. This bay was one which after- 
ward received the name of New York Bay, and the river has ever 
since borne the name of this brave explorer. Hudson went up the 
river about a hundred and fifty miles, as far as the present city of 
Albany, and he sent men in boats to explore the stream farther. He 
found that the river up to this point was navigable for large vessels, 
and that all along its shores was a most beautiful country, well 
wooded, well watered, and abounding in fruits of every kind. The 
natives of the country were generally friendly and brought to the 
vessel great quantities of corn, of pumpkins, of fruits and plums, 
besides the skins of animals. These they very readily exchanged for 
beads, knives, hatchets or any other trifles that the sailors would 
give them. I an sorry to say that the sailors of the Half Moon made 
a very poor return for the kindness and confidence of the red men. 
They made the poor simple creatures drunk with brandy, and on the 
way down the river they got into a fight with them, and killed many 
of them. But Hudson cast anchor again in the beautiful bay and 
took possession of all the lands and waters that he had discovered in 
the name of the Dutch government. Then he safely crossed the 
Atlantic again and gave all his charts and the journal of the voyage 
into the hands of the Dutch Company, and the sturdy and enterpris- 
ing Hollanders, before the opening of the next year, had a large 
number of trading vessels ready to go to the new country and traffic 
with the Indians. It was this discovery which gave the Dutch 
a foothold on the American coast, very soon after the English made 
their first permanent settlement in Virginia, and some years before 
they came over to take possession of New England. 

It is said that when Hudson cast anchor in the port of Plymouth 
on his way back to Holland, he was detained by order of the king, 
and that he was obliged to send his chart and other papers to 
Amsterdam by a trusted messenger, understanding that the EntjUsh 
irsonarch, King James, wanted to seize them. We cannot say 



THE VOYAGES OF HENRY HUDSON. 153 

whether this story is true or not, but we know that the London 
Company which had sent Hudson out before, hearing of his success, 
immediately sent for him again. They wanted to fit out a vessel for 
him and, unfortunately, they wanted him to try again the impossible 
search for the northwest passage. 

Hudson was a man of much generosity, and unhappily, as so 
often happens, his kindness was returned with base ingratitude. 
While preparing to start upon this voyage — which was destined to 
be his last — a friend brought to his notice a young man named 
Greene, asking him to do something for him, if he could. This 
youth was the son of excellent parents, had been well brought up 
and well educated, but had fallen in with bad companions, had 
become drunk and dishonest, and behaved so very wickedly that his 
father had ordered him never to enter his doors again. Hudson, on 
hearing the young man's story, generously offered to give him a place 
in the expedition, thinking that, by arousing his ambition and taking 
him away from his evil companions, he might be reformed. The 
company would not employ a young man of such bad character, but 
Hudson promised to pay his wages, and he told Greene that if 
he did well on the voyage, the commander would guarantee to him 
a good place in London on his return. 

We shall learn how this young man, and another man much 
indebted to Captain Hudson's kindness — Robert Juet, the mate. — 
repaid him on this voyage. 

Hudson. had twenty-two men with him this time, and his young 
son, and leaving London in April, 1610, he went by wa}^ of Iceland 
to Greenland. On this coast he got into a great mass of floating ice- 
bergs, which hemmed in his ship so that he feared he would never 
get out. However, after much difficulty the ship was set free. The 
captain, who seemed to have a presentiment of great difficulties 
before them, now gave to his sailors the choice to go on further in 
the explorations, or to turn his ships about and go home. He 
brought out his chart and showed them that they had gone a 
hundred leagues farther than any Englishman had ever gone before, 
but, he said, he would not push on if they wished him to go back. 
The sailors, however, could not agree on the matter; some wanted 
him to return and some did not. So it was finally decided that they 



154 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

should go on. On they pushed, therefore, and soon made their way 
into a wide strait, in which, though there was considerable floating 
ice, there was still enough open water to make quite a safe passage. 
They were nearly four weeks in getting through the strait, and then, 
when at last they found themselves in a broad open sea, which 
extended in every direction farther than their sight could reach, they 
thought that they had found the long desired passage at last. It 
makes one sad to think now, how fall of delight this brave captain 
must have been, and how bitter must have been the disappointment 
that followed. 

For, sailing from point to point around this bay, as the season 
was growing late and the supplies of the vessel growing less, and the 
men becoming more and more surly and mutinous every day, he 
was forced to acknowledge that they had found a great inland sea 
only and not the long desired Western Ocean. It was no use to turn 
back by the way they had come, they must winter in the bay. 
Terrible storms also came up, and in one of these they were obliged 
to cut away the cable of the ship, and so lost their anchor. At 
another time they ran upon a sunken ledge of rock, where the ship 
stuck fast for twelve hours, but was at last got off without being 
much injured. At last, on the 1st of November, they ran the ship 
up to the shore in one of the inlets of the bay, and in a few days 
they were completely frozen in. 

They passed a most unhappy winter. The food supplies of the 
vessel were so nearly gone, that it was necessary to put the men on 
an allowance, and Captain Hudson offered a special reward for every 
beast, fish or fowl that any of the sailors could kill, to increase their 
stores. Notwithstanding this, the men suffered dreadfully from 
hunger; and the cold was excessive, so that many had frozen hands 
and feet. The men were surly-tempered and angry all the time, 
acting as though they blamed Hudson for their sufferings, and, we 
are told, to make the matter worse, the captain was very cruel to the 
men, abusing them without reason, whenever he spoke to them. 
But we must remember that the only account of this last voyage of 
Hudson, which we have, is the one written by one of the sailors. 
Pricket, who was an enemy of the captain and shared in the guilt of 
the mutiny against him We may suppose that this man would 



THE VOYAGES OF HENRY HUDSON. 



155 



exaggerate every little excuse that he and the others had for tlieir 
wicked conduct, and from what we know of the previous character 
of Hudson we know he was anything hut cruel and unjust. Like 
all truly brave men, he was as kind as he was brave. 

Well, the terrible winter was over at last, and the ice began to 
])reak up in the spring. The fish which the men now caught, 
relieved their suffer- 
ings to some extent. 
But they were still in 
much need, and when 
the captain at last 
had everything ready 
to set sail again on 
their homeward jour- 
ney, a division of 
their supplies showed 
that there was only 
a pound of bread for 
each man remaining. 
Hudson gave out the 
small allowance and 
the tears rolled down 
his cheeks as he did 
so, even his enemies 
dared not omit to tell 
that. He gave to each 
of them, also, a bill 

showing what was due to them from the owners of this ship, 
in case he should not live to reach home. And how did these 
men reward Hudson's justice and kindness ? A few days 
after this they formed a mutiny. Greene, the young man 
whom Hudson had taken up and helped when his own parents 
had cast him off, and Juet, who was indebted to the com- 
mander for a hundred favors, were at the bottom of the mutiny. 
They formed a most cruel plan, which was to put Hudson and his 
son, with, all the sick men, into a boat and set them adrift. They 
determined to send off the ship carpenter also, who was devoted to 




HENRY HUDSON. 



156 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

the captain, and could not, they knew, be induced to take part 
against him. This heartless scheme was carried out, early in th^ 
morning. As the captain had just come out of his cabin, three men 
sprang upon him from behind, knocked him down and bound him 
hand and foot. Then they put him in the boat with his young son, 
then the sick men ; there were six of these, who, in spite of their 
cries and pleadings, were thrust into the boat. No need to bind or 
seize the carpenter. He cursed the men for their wicked deeds and 
said that he would rather go to the bottom of the sea with his master 
than into a safe harbor with murderers, for it was nothing but mur- 
der they were doing, and they knew it. So he took his chest with 
him, and a musket with powder and shot, and some meal and fish, 
with an iron pot, and got into the boat. Then the sailors cut the 
rope that held the boat, and it floated away. 

Nothing was ever seen or heard of it again. It is dreadful to 
think what sufferings the poor men in it must have endured, before 
they perished of starvation, though it is possible that they may have 
landed on the coast somewhere. It is most likely, however, that 
the rough sea engulfed the little craft. The next year a vessel was 
sent out to search for some trace of Hudson, but none could be 
found anywhere on the shores of the bay. For — I am almost sorry 
to say it — the mutineers reached England at last. Not all of them, 
however ; Greene and three others were killed by savages when they 
landed on the coast of the strait in search of food. The others suf- 
fered terribly from hunger in their voyage across thy ocean, and the 
ungrateful Juet died, only the day before they ca^/ie in sight of the 
shores of Ireland. 




THE COMING OF THE PILGRIMS. 

1620. 

HE people who spoiled Captain Smith's plan of founding a 
New England state were English people called Puritans. 

For a great many years there had been trouble in the 
English church. This church had, during the reign of 
King Henry VIII, declared itself independent of the 
authority of the pope of Rome ; but in denying many of 
the doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic church 
people could not agree what to throw away and what to keep. 

Many of the English bishops and other ministers wished to keep 
all forms of the service without change, when the doctrines of the 
English church did not forbid them. But there were some people 
who wished to do away with all forms, which they said were in the 
way of purity of worship. They said so much about " purifying the 
worship " that at last people began to laugh at them and to call 
them Puritans. 

There is no question but that something needed purifying in 
England. It was, however, the manners and morals of her people 
that needed purifying most, for these did not at all suit the good 
doctrines of the church. But the Puritans did not see this. They 
wanted to destroy the beautiful service, as they had pulled down all 
the beautiful statues and pictures in the churches. 

The English church was then (as it still is) supported by the 
people just as the English crown was, and the sovereign, who was 
called the Defender and Protector of the church as well as of the 
nation, said that disobedience to church laws was as disloyal 
as disobedience to any other. So there was a great deal of persecution, 
for the people had not then learned to be tolerant and allow every 
man to hold whatever belief he liked. The Puritans behaved rather 
the better of the two parties in this struggle, perhaps because they 

157 



158 



STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 



were weaker, as they did not show the same charity in after years ; 
but they wanted to get away from England to some country where 
they could use just such a service in their churches as they wished. 
It was not easy to get away, as the English government did not want 
them to go, but, at last, after several attempts in which they were 
each time discovered and brought back, a small company succeeded 
in reaching Holland. There they settled and lived happily for some 

years, for there they had a 
plain little meeting house 
to worship in, instead of a 
costly church, and were not 
obliged to use awritten 
service. 

But these people were| 
loyal Englishmen at heartJ 
although they might differ 
from their countrymen in 
religion, and they were 
homesick among foreign 
people. They were sorry 
that they had been obliged 
to disobey their sovereign 
and they wished that in 
some way they could show 
him that, in every matter 
except one, they were willing to do his will. Then they thought of 
America, which was their king's own domain, where he was at this 
very time trying to found a colony. They determined to help in found- 
ing an English-speaking nation on this shore, and thus extend the 
English power and enlarge her commerce, if the king would promise 
to them in the new country that liberty which had been denied them 
m the old. 

The king gave them this promise, though not very graciously, 
and they began to prepare to leave Holland for their new home. 
They were strong hearted and brave people, and, perhaps, had a 
better spirit prevailed in that time, they might have had no desire to 
separate themselves from their national church. But as it was they 




THE MAYFLOWER. 



THE COMING OF THE PILGRIMS. 



159 



were anxious to go and found a church in the wilderness. So they 
made all preparations and were ready to start late in the fall of 1620. 
They had two vessels, the Mayflower, a large ship which they 
had rented from a Plymouth firm, and a smaller one which they 
had bought in Holland for use in their new colony. 

They were hardly started when the Speedwell, the smaller vessel, 
sprang a leak and they had to take refuge in an English harbor where 
they stayed nearly three weeks 
while it was bemg repaired. 
They then started again, but it 
was an old rotten vessel and 
they were not out of sight of land 
this second time before it was 
leaking again. So they took on 
board the Mayfloiver such passen- 
gers as they could and sent the 
small ship back condemned as 
unseaworthy. 

It had been the plan of these 
pilgrims to land along the banks 
of the Hudson River, but the 
stormy sea turned them out of 
their course and they reached 
the land near Cape Cod. 

It was on the 11th of Nov- 
ember, and the weather was dark 
and stormy, when the voyagers 
first sighted land, and they did 
not attempt to go on shore imme- 
diately. They first met in the 
cabin to give thanks to God for 
a safe journey and then proceed- 
ed to make out a plan for their new government. In this they 
promised to live in peace and harmony, and declared that equal rights 
should be given to all, and obedience to any law for the common 
good. 

Having rested over the Sabbath day, on the follow^'ng Monday 




A PURITAN. 



160 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

they sent on shore an exploring party under Miles Standish. A 
number of women also went ashore, and taking the great quantity cf 
soiled linen that had gathered during the voyage they had a fine 
washing day on the beach. In this way the " Monday's wash " of the 
thrifty housekeeper was inaugurated in New England. 

The exploring party had no adventures to speak of. They saw 
one or two Indians who ran away ; and soon after found an Indian 
graveyard, and then, what interested them more, a buried heap of 
corn ; this they took for seed during the following year. They 
found an Indian deer trap in which they hoped to catch fresh meat, 
but only succeeded in catching their future governor, and then they 
returned to the ship. 

There were now several weeks spent in exploring for a good 
place to land, for the shore was bleak and rocky and did not invite 
settlers. At last, Dec. 21, an exploring party in a boat found a 
harbor that suited them, and landed, stepping on a large rock 
imbedded in the sand at the water's edge. (This rock has since 
become famous, and is now protected by a costly canopy of stone.) 
Then the explorers went back to the ship, which on the 25th 
(Christmas) sailed for the harbor, which they had decided to call 
Plymouth, after the last friendly settlement they had left in England. 
Some of the men went on shore immediately, to prepare for - -ildin^ 
the houses. It was a gloomy day, very cold and yet raining, and 
the water falling froze in sheets of ice over everything, even the 
clothes of the people, so that they were like metal. The people said 
they were like coats of mail to protect them from the Indian's arrows 
and seemed to find even in this hardship something good. 

But this was only one among many hard things, and had not 
these people been of brave and steadfast characters they would have 
all been discouraged this first winter There was so much sickness 
that they lost half their number before spring. But they buried 
their dead in secret places that the Indians might not know how 
small their number was growing, and kept up heart through every- 
thing. 

They need not have been in such fear of the savages, they 
afterwards found, for a great plague had swept through the tribe in 
that district and taken nearly all their numbers ; so no Indian came 



THE COMING OF THE PILGRIMS. 



161 



near to the settlement until the spring, when one day they were 
surprised to hear in a strange voice the words " Welcome, English- 
men." They were spoken by Samoset, a friendly Indian who had 
learned the English language from the fishermen who came often to 
Cape Cod. 

This Indian told them of the sickness of th^ir tribes which had 
prevented an earlier visit, but assured them of the red man's friend- 




FIKST WASHING DAY IN NEW ENGLAND. 



ship. Another Indian, Squanto, said the same, and these two Indians 
arranged a meeting between the great chief of their tribe and the 
white men. At this meeting the pipe of peace was solemnly smoked 
and a treaty of friendship made which lasted for forty years. 

It came near being brokeh once by a proud king of the Narra- 
j^ansett tribe. This warrior, Canonicus, became offended at something 



162 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

the white man had done, and sent to Plymouth a bundle of arrows 
tied up in a rattlesnake's skin. This was the Indian way of declar- 
ing war. For answer the English governor filled the skin with 
powder and balls and sent it back. Then the Indians, having a 
wholesome fear of the white man's musket, gave up their plan of 
war. 

Though the pilgrims were thus saved from trouble with the 
Indians another danger stared them in the face, and that was starva- 
tion. The first summer brought them almost no harvest and in the 
fall a new company came over to join them, but as these brought no 
provisions their allowance, already very small, had to be divided 
by one-half. Yet they did not give up, though their daily rations 
came dpwn to only five kernels of corn and finally depended on such 
clams and mussels as they could gather from the sand. Still they 
gave thanks to God who had " given them to suck of the abund- 
ance of the sea," and did not lose heart, though this was in their 
third year of hardship and privation. At last brighter days dawned. 
Warmer summers brought them rich harvests of corn. They found 
in the woods fine lumber and quantities of sassafras which furnished 
an article of trade with England, besides the furs which they bought 
from the Indians. 

Prosperity was established in their colony and at the end of 
seven years they were enabled to purchase the interest of their lands 
from the company which had obtained the grant from the English 
king. It cost nine thousand dollars but it gave the government into 
their own hands and at last the Pilgrims secured that for which they 
had sought for miles over stormy seas, freedom and independence. 

Other settlers — particularly the large Massachusetts Bay colony, 
which founded the city of Boston — had now come in to aid the first 
colonists in maintaining their hold on the new country. Others 
took possession of lands on the Connecticut river, and on Nar- 
ragasnett bay. Within fifty years after the coming of the pilgrims, 
all New England was under English control. 




THE STORY OF PETER THE HEADSTRONG. 

1 641— 1664. 



TOLD you that no sooner had Hudson explored the river 
bearing his name, under the direction of a Holland com- 
pany, than the Dutch traders went out there to traffic with 
tiie Indians. They explored the coast, they built forts, 
jind villages and towns. One town they built on the 
island where the city of New York now is, and called it 
New Amsterdam. They called the whole country they 
controlled New Netherlands. They got on quite well with the 
Indians. The country was ruled by governors for forty years. Of 
one of these, the last, I shall eow tell you something. 

In May, 1647, Peter Stuyvesant arrived at New Amsterdam, sent 
from Holland to govern the people of the New Netherlands. He had 
been a brave soldier and had lost a leg fighting in the West Indies. 
He was now forty-four years old, a very large, strong man, and he 
had a wooden leg. He was so proud of this leg that he was often 
heard to say that he valued it more than all his other limbs put 
together. He had it ornamented with beautiful bands of silver. 
Peter Stuyvesant was of a very hasty temper, and so obstinate that 
people called him Peter the Headstrong. When he became governor 
of the New Netherlands, he made few laws, but he saw to it that 
those laws were obej ed. He did not believe in the people having 
anything to say about governing themselves. Under the former 
governor, William Kieft, the people had been allowed some voice in 
public affairs, but Peter soon put a stop to that. There was a council 
of nine men chosen by the governor to advise him. Peter Stuyve- 
sant immediately dismissed those whom Governor Kieft had chosen, 
and put in their places, fat, self-satisfied burghers, and had these 
supplied with long pipes and plenty of tobacco when in the council 
chamber, where they quietly went to sleep and let him manage 



164 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

affairs to suit himself. Meanwhile the people were contented and 
happy. 

For some time the people of Connecticut — then called Yankees — 
had been encroaching on the possessions of the Dutch. There was a 
good deal of fighting between these Yankees and their Dutch neigh- 
Lors, and much robbing of Dutch hen roosts and cabbage gardens. 
The English colonists finally accused Peter Stuyvesant of bribing 
the Indians to massacre the people of Connecticut. Now, Peter the 
Headstrong was the soul of honor, and would not think of doing 
such a cowardly thing to save his neck, or even his silver-encircled 
wooden leg, which he prized more highly. But some Indians had told 
the Yankees these stories, probably with the hope of getting a drink 
of whisky for their pains. When Peter Stuyvesant heard of this he 
was exceedingly angry. He immediately sent a letter to the grand 
council of Connecticut, emphatically denying the charge and re- 
proaching them for taking the word of heathen savages against 
a Christian governor. But the grand council, instead of at once vin- 
dicating him as the good Peter had not the least doubt they would, 
returned him a message saying that his word could not outweigh the 
testimony of several sober Indians, and that they should seek 
satisfaction. 

Governor Stuyvesant then sent a second message with a proposal 
that the case be tried by a court of honor. To this they agreed. 
Peter was now content, as he expected, of course, to be tried by his 
own burghers, who, knowing how honest and upright he was, would 
at once acquit him of this charge. What was his astonishment then, 
when two tall, thin Yankees rode up to his house one day, as he was 
sitting on his porch smoking his pipe, and began to try the case 
then and there, asking him if he pleaded guilty or not guilty. Peter 
was so indignant at this plan to force strange judges upon him, that 
he immediately rose and walked into the house, without answering 
his visitors, slamming the door after him, and gave orders that these 
men were not to be admitted into his presence again. So the two 
rode back to Connecticut and reported Stuyvesant's conduct to the 
grand council, which at once decided that the Dutch governor could 
not answer the questions put to him by these men, and was guilty. 
So they made preparations for invading the New Netherlands, for 



THE STORY OF PETER THE HEADSTRONG. 



165 



these lands were rich and they had long coveted them. When word 
of these preparations reached New Amsterdam, Governor Stuyvesant 
called out the men whom William Kieft had drilled for soldiers, but 
he made them sleep in camp, after drilling them all day ; and that 
night it rained. The next morning brave old Peter Stuyvesant was 
alone on the field, for his whole army, having been conquered by the 
rain, had run home as fast as their short legs could carry them. 

Stuyvesant saw little hope of winning a victory over the Yankees 
with such men as these. So he picked out a small band of stout men 
whom he paid in sil- 
ver and gold, which 
greatly increased their 
valor. These he drill- 
ed day after day. He 
also had huge banks 
of mud thrown up 
around the city be- 
hind which these sol- 
diers were to fire at 
their enemy. After all 
this labor of getting 
ready it seems a pity 
that there was no war 
after all. But such was 
the case. The colony 
of Massachusetts re- 
fused to help Connecti- 
cut, for it did not be- 
lieve in the charge against the honest Dutch governor. But this was 
not the only reason. For it was at this time that the witchcraft trouble 
broke out in New England, and the Yankees had enough to do 
burning up their witches, without molesting their harmless Dutch 
neighbors. 

But this valiant ruler was no sooner out of one trouble than 
another was thrust upon him. This time it was the Swedes on the 
Delaware, who had also been trespassing on the country of the New 
Netherlanders. So Governor Stuyvesant sent out a force under the 




PETER STUYVESANT, 



166 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

command of General von Pofifenburgh, to build a fort on the 
Delaware, to keep back the invading Swedes. Now this von Poffen- 
burgh was a very fat, conceited little fellow, ever loud in his own 
praise and in lelling of his heroic deeds. So when he had reached 
the Delaware and had built his fort, which he named Fort Casimir, 
it is said that he was so impatient for fight that he thrust his sword 
through the pumpkins of the neighboring gardens, fancying to him- 
self that he was killing scores of Swedes. 

Jan Printz was governor of New Sweden at this time. He sent 
a message to this gallant officer telling him to get out of the country. 
Von PofFenburgh replied, with much noisy language, that he would 
not. Jan Printz then sailed up the Delaware three miles above Fort 
Casimir, where he built a fort and called it Christina. As all the 
vessels bearing provisions to Fort Casimir had to pass Fort Christina, 
they were seized by the Swedes, and the good things that were 
intended for the Dutch soldiers, went to feed their enemy. What 
would have become of these hungry fellows after a while, we cannot 
venture to say. But relief was at hand, and what do you suppose it 
was? Mosquitoes! A plague of them attacked Fort Christina, until 
the Swedes were fairly buzzed out, and their governor soon after 
sailed for Sweden. 

Jan Claudius Risingh was then made governor of New Sweden. 
This new governor was a shrewd and crafty man. He soon learned 
the character of the commander of Fort Casimir and set about 
to humor his vanity. One day he sailed down the river to the 
Dutch fort, and fired a royal salute. This tribute to his importance 
greatly pleased Von PofFenburgh, who at once ordered out his troops 
to parade before his guest. After this he gave a banquet in his 
honor. Now, I am sorry to say that on this occasion the Dutch 
drank so much ale that they were all soon fast asleep. Risingh and 
his men then bound them hand and foot and carried the whole gar- 
rison off" to Fort Christina. 

When Peter the Headstrong heard of the fate of Von Poff'enburgh 
and his men he was filled with rage, and determined to go himself 
and conquer these Swedes. So he set sail for Fort Casimir on the 
Delaware. Arriving before this place he demanded its surrender of 
the man whom Risingh had left in charge of it, and this man at once 



THE STORY OF PETER THE HEADSTRONG. 167' 

complied. Elated with this easy victory, Peter the Headstrong 
sailed to Fort Christina and demanded its surrender also. But 
Governor Risingh refused. Then ensued a battle between the New 
Netherlands and New Sweden. After ten hours' hard fighting the 
Dutch won the day, without a single man killed on either side! Oh, 
if our battles now-a-days were only as harmless ! 

When Fort Christina surrendered to Peter Stuyvesant all New 
Sweden became a province of the New Netherlands. Peter the 
Headstrong and his valiant army now sailed back to New Amster- 
dam, where the victors were heartily welcomed and feasted, and the 
school children were given a holiday. 

After subduing foreigners Peter the Headstrong now had to face 
the much harder task of subduing his own people. During his 
absence they had held meetings to discuss public affairs. Governor 
Stuyvesant, hearing of this, sent back his walking stick to be laid on 
the table in the council chamber, as a hint of how he might use it if 
they meddled in what he considered none of their business. This 
had the desired effect upon the nine councillors, who stood in great 
awe of their governor. But it did not silence the people. When 
Peter returned he ordered them to disperse. One evening he sud- 
denly appeared at one of these meetings with his walking stick in his 
hand, and strode up to the man who was loudly haranguing the 
people, and pulling out a huge silver watch told him to mend it 
and set it going. The man declared that he could not, that he was 
only a poor cobbler and knew nothing about watches, and that he 
would only spoil it. "Why, then," cried Peter, "dost thou try 
to meddle with the affairs of government, which you know nothing 
about and could only spoil? " And shaking his walking stick at the 
terrified man he told him to go back to cobbling shoes and not to 
meddle with what he knew nothing about. Peter ended with a 
terrible threat that if he caught the cobbler or any of his fellows 
meddling with affairs of government again, he would have drum- 
heads made of their skins, that they might make a noise to some 
purpose. 

But the good governor really loved his people, and if he did not 
let them rule themselves it was because he thought that he could 
rule them better. He delighted to see them enjoy themselves, and 



168 



STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 



was a great promoter of holidays. New Year's day was his favorite 
festival, and on that day he received all the burghers of New 
Amsterdam, with their wives and daughters, with great pomp and 
splendor. Another thing he did for the good of the people was to 
distribute fiddles throughout the land. And now instead of angry 
mobs talking about their rights and wrongs, there were joyous gath- 
erings of men ard women to dance on the village green to the music 
of the fiddle. The good governor now enjoyed peace for a little 
while, sitting under the spreading trees, watching the dancQfs and 
keeping time with his head to the music. 

But now again came troubles thick and fast. First the sturdy 




NEW AMSTERDAM IN 1664. 

(From an old copper-plate.) 

Peter had to march up the Hudson to quell the Indians. He had no 
sooner returned from this campaign than he received word from the 
man in whose charge he had left the newly acquired territory of New 
Sweden, saying that the English in Maryland had ordered him off 
his possessions claiming that the land was theirs. Peter Stuy vesant 
would at once have gone to subdue these English as he had done 
the Swedes, but that there was greater danger on the east. While he 
was fighting the Indians the Yankees had again invaded the New 
Netherlands. The governor determined to settle affairs by going to 



THE STORY OF PETER THE HEADSTRONG. 169 

the grand council of New England himself. So he set out with only 
one man for a companion. 

Now while he was bravely making his way to Boston, away 
over the seas in England a plan was formed to take from him his 
fertile country. King Charles II granted this land to his brother 
the Duke of York. Generous man, to give away what did not belong 
to him ! He also sent a fleet of ships to take possession, the New 
Englanders being only too glad help these by land. 

While Stuyvesant was in Boston he heard of these plans, 
and at once sent a secret message to his council at New Amsterdam, 
telling them to throw up defenses about the city and prepare for 
war. He did not wish the Yankees to know that he knew of 
their intended invasion, so delayed his return to New Amsterdam. 

On receiving the message of the governor his council met 
and resolved that defenses should be built immediately. But as it 
would take money to build them, and the New Amsterdammers 
would not put money into anything that would not bring it back 
with interest, the poor little city got no fortifications at all. And all 
this while the people were in great confusion, rushing hither and 
thither and all talking at once. But when at last the English fleet 
appeared before the city, all ran home and hid in their cellars, pray- 
ing for the return of their brave governor. At last he came, and 
great was his wrath when he saw that nothing had. been done to 
defend his beloved city from its invaders. He immediately sent a 
message to tne British commander of the fleet. Col. Nichols, demand- 
ing his reason for anchoring in the harbor. Col. Nichols at once 
answered, declaring the right of the Duke of York to the province, 
and demanding the surrender of the city, promising at the same time 
life, liberty and free trade to every citizen thereof who should readily 
submit to his British majesty. Peter Stuyvesant thereupon called 
a meeting of his councillors and burgomasters. He first rated them 
soundly for their neglect in defending the city, and finally informed 
them of the summons he had received to surrender, but concluded 
by saying that he would defend the province as long as he had a 
wooden leg to stand upon. The burgomasters plucked up courage 
when they learned that there was some way of getting out of this 
trouble without fighting, and asked to see a copy of the summons to 



170 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

surrender, that they might show it to the people and ask them 
whether they were willing to accept its terms. The angry governor 
thrust the message in his pocket and swore they should not see a 
syllable of it. As to their advice, he did not care a whiff of tobacco 
for it, and they could go home and go to bed, for he would defend 
the colony himself. The burgomasters, instead of following this 
wholesome advice, called a public meeting and a letter was written 
to the governor remonstrating with him for what they called his 
tyrannical conduct. This letter Peter used to light his pipe. Reso- 
lutely bent on defending the city even in spite of itself, he sent out a 
trumpeter to rally men from the highlands on the Hudson and 
other parts of the New Netherlands. But the poor trumpeter was 
drowned in crossing the Harlem river. This trumpeter was the 
governor's last faithful ally, and now that he was dead there was no 
one else to send for help. This was the time when the old governor 
showed how truly he had been called Peter the Headstrong. 

The day after the untimely end of this gallant trumpeter Peter 
Stuyvesant received a letter from Governor Winthrop of Connecticut, 
advising him to surrender. How the governor stormed and raged! 
Advice indeed, and to him, who had never taken advice in his life. 
And at this ill-chosen time, the burgomasters who had heard of the 
letter, marched in a body into the room and demanded to see it. For 
answer Peter the Headstrong tore it into a thousand bits and threw 
them at the nearest man, broke his pipe over the head of another, 
and kicked them all down stairs with his wooden leg. They then 
held another meeting but were too much afraid of their governor by 
this time to send him any more messages. 

Governor Stuyvesant then sent a letter to Col. Nichols refusing 
to surrender and defying him to do his worst. But all this time the 
English commander had not been idle. He had sent men among 
the people, frightening them nearly out of their wits with tales of the 
dreadful things that would befall them if they did not submit to 
Great Britain; and on the other hand promising them that if they 
did so submit, they should be allowed to retain their property unmo- 
lested. Now these Dutchmen cared very little who ruled them, so 
long as their cabbage gardens flourished and their pocket-books were 



THE STORY OF PETER THE HEADSTRONG. 171 

full. So they looked upon their headstrong governor as one bent 
upon running them into perilous misadventures. 

When Colonel Nichols received Stuyvesant's refusal to surrender, 
he sent word to the Yankees to invade the New Netherlands by land. 
Thus baffled in his attempts to put the city in a state of defense, and 
deserted by his own people, with an English fleet before the city and 
the Yankee army already in the country, Peter the Headstrong for 
once gave way, and consented to surrender the city. This news was 
received with shouts of joy by the people. When they brought the 
treaty of surrender for him to sign, twice he seized his pen to write 
his name, but threw it down again and declared that he would not 
give up the city. The next day, however, nearly all the people con- 
gregated before his house, urging him to sign the treaty. Peter was 
sitting in his garret window all this time, and after three hours' 
haranguing on the part of the people, the governor, fearing they 
would go over to the English without his consent, told them to give 
him the paper. It was fastened on the end of a pole and handed up 
to him. He hastily signed it and threw it at them. Three hours 
after, the British were in possession of the city, and they changed its 
name from New Amsterdam to New York. 

Good old Peter Stuyvesant now turned his back on the city for- 
ever, going to his farm on Manhattan Island, where he had a grove 
of trees planted on the side of his house that faced the city, so that 
he could not even see it from a distance. Here he lived happily till 
the end of his days, being troubled no more with the cares of govern- 
ment. He died at the age of eighty, and was buried in the church 
of St. Nicholas which stood on his grounds. The city of New York 
now covers this farm, and the church of St. Nicholas is now called 
the church of St. Mark, where his tombstone is still to be seen. 




THE NEW DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 

1648-1675. 

HILE the English were settling along the Atlantic coast, 
and the Spaniards had taken possession of the south, 
the French were making their way into the heart of the 
New World by way of the St. Lawrence river ; and in 
carrying their power into distant countries inland, the 
best helpers of the French explorers were the priests. 
Indeed, the priests themselves were discoverers, often 
going far in advance of the others, in their desire to teach the 
Indians the true faith. 

During the religious wars in Europe a Spanish soldier named 
Ignatius Loyola, founded a society called the Society of Jesus, or 
Jesuits. The members of this society were trained like soldiers in 
an army, and were bound to each other and to their officers by the 
strictest rules. All were bound to the work of their religion as sold- 
iers are to their duty in an army. 

The Jesuits were even more courageous than soldiers, and this 
is one secret of the great influence they gained over the Indians. 
The highest virtue of the North American Indian was to suffer with- 
out complaining. When the Jesuits came among them ready to 
share their lives of hardship and exposure, and outdoing them in 
endurance of cold, privation and hunger, the Indians were filled 
with admiration for them and were ready to listen to what they had 
to say. One of the priests who gained much influence over the 
Indians, and was very much beloved by them, was Father Marquette, 
who came out in 1664. In his zeal for converting the Indians he 
pushed farther into the wilderness than any before him had done, 
and was the first white man after De Soto, to visit the Mississippi 
river. 

170 / 



THE NEW DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



173 



In 1668, Claude Dablon, the superior of the mission of the lakes, 
went with St. Lusson, an explorer of New France, to establish a 
trading post and mission at Sault St. Marie, and with them went 
young "Father Marquette. Here a cross was planted, which Father 
Dablon blessed 
while his followers 
knelt with heads 
uncovered. A ce- 
dar post was then 
placed beside the 
cross with a metal 
plate bearing the 
arms of France. 
Two years later, 
Father Marquette 
went still further 
west and establish 
ed another mission 
at Point St. Ignace. 

The Indians 
told him of a great 
river to the west 
which they called 
Missipi. They said 
that this great 
stream flowed 
southward, no one 
knew whither. 
Marquette, suppos- 
ing that there were 
great tribes of God's 
people living upon 
its banks, who had 

never been taught the truths of the gospel, was very anxious to go 
out and preach to them. 

The French governor-general of Canada was also anxious to 
have this river explored, not so much for the sake of the natives 




FATHER DABLON PLANTING THE CROSS. 



174 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

upon its banks, as in the desire to widen his king's dominions. It 
also became a matter of curious speculation ^^rhat course the river 
pursued, and at what place it emptied into the sea. Some believed 
it to flow southwesterly and empty into the gulf of California, others 
that it changed its course toward the east and ran into the Atlantic 
Ocean somewhere in Virginia, and some that it flowed on to the 
Gulf of Mexico. They all knew that if the great navigable river was 
found, it would add much to the wealth of France. 

So the governor of Canada, De Frontenac, appointed M. Joliet 
as commander of an expedition to explore this river. And with him, 
it was ordered, should go Father Marquette. 

On the 13th of May, 1673, these two with five other Frenchmen 
embarked in two canoes, with a small provision of Indian corn and 
smoked meat. When Father Marquette told his red-skinned children 
of his intention to visit the great river and preach the gospel to the 
people there, they were very m.uch astonished at his boldness and 
begged him not to go. They told him the people were very cruel 
and that the river contained horrible monsters ready to swallow 
them and their canoes together. But Father Marquette answered 
him that he was ready to lay down his life, if need be, for the cause. 

So after praying together and blessing the Indians he left them. 
After several days his little band of explorers reached the Bay of 
Pucius, now called Green Bay, where many of the Indians had been 
converted to Christianity by the French priests. The explorers ascend- 
ed a river that flows into this bay, and reached an Indian village. On 
entering the town Father Marquette was much gratified to find a 
tall cross planted and hung with the finest skins, and bows and 
arrows, ofi'ered by the Indians in thanks to the Great Manitou, or 
God, for giving them food during the bitter winter just past. Father 
Marquette and Joliet assembled the chiefs and old men of the village, 
and the good father, pointing to Joliet, said : " My friend is an envoy 
of France to discover new countries, and I am an ambassador from 
God to enlighten them with the truths of the gospel." 

The Indians promised them two of their men as guides, and 
gave Father Marquette a mat of Indian manufacture, which served 
him as a bed during the voyage. The next day, the 10th of June, 
amid a great crowd of natives they departed into a land where no 
white men had ever yet ventured. 



THE NEW DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 175 

After marching many miles through forests and swamps they 
reached a river now known as the Wisconsin. This river, how- 
ever, was so choked up with a growth of wild rice, that they could not 
sail on it until they had reached a place some miles further down 
the stream. Here their guides left them and returned to their vil- 
lage, and Father Marquette and his party launched their canoes 
upon this unknown river and drifted along between banks clothed 
in verdure and through great forests of oak and walnut. Numbers of 
deer and buffalo were seen, but no other animals. After a few days' 
sailing, they came to a great river — the " father of waters." 

Turning their canoes down the mighty stream, they saw to the 
west high bluffs, and on the right were fertile valleys as far as 
the eye could reach. And there were many islands in the river 
covered with beautiful flowers. From the time of leaving their 
guides they had sailed more than four hundred miles, without dis- 
covering any other inhabitants of the forests than birds and beasts. 
They were always on the lookout for savages, however, kindling a 
fire toward evening to cook their food, and afterwards anchoring their 
canoes in the middle of the stream, during the night. At last, on the 
25th of June, they discovered the footsteps of men on the sandy 
banks of the river, and a path leading into a beautiful prairie. They 
landed, and leaving their canoes under the guard of their boatmen, 
Father Marquette and Joliet set forth to make discoveries. Follow- 
ing the path for about five miles, they came to a village on the banks 
of a stream and two others on a hill not far distant. As they neared 
the village they gave notice of their arrival by a loud call. The 
Indians came out of their cabins and stared at the white men, the 
first t^ey had ever seen. They sent four of their chiefs to meet tho 
strangers. Two of them brought pipes ornamented with feathers, 
which in silence they raised toward the sun as a token of friendship. 
Father Marquette then spoke to them, and, taking the pipes they 
offered, entered the village. At the cabin of the chief the calumet or 
peace-pipe was offered to them. The good father talked with the 
chief, giving him presents. The chief begged him not to risk his life 
by trying to go farther down the great river, which they called the 
Mississippi. 

The next day the good father and his little band returned to 



176 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

their canoes, and again drifted down the mighty stream and soon 
reached a great river which flowed into the Mississippi. This was 
the Pekitanoni, which they had been told flowed from the northwest. 
This river is now called the Missouri. Father Marquette now felt 
pretty sure that the Mississippi must flow into the Gulf of Mexico. 
About sixty miles further on they came to another great river, flowing 
from the east and emptying into the Mississippi. This is now known 
as the Ohio river. A little further on they saw savages, armed with 
muskets, awaiting their approach. Father Marquette presented his 
peace pipe, and spoke to them in the language of the Hurons. They 
made no reply but made signals for the party to come on shore and 
take food with them. This they did, and found that the savages had 
guns, hatchets, knives, hoes, and glass bottles to keep their gun- 
powder in. The Indians said that they had purchased their goods 
from white men who came from the east. They also told the explorers 
that they were within ten days' journey of the sea. Encouraged by 
the knowledge that they were near the sea, the voyagers now went 
on between banks covered with thick forests. They saw quails on 
the shore and heard the bellowing of buffaloes. Sailing on they 
came to an Indian village. The natives, armed with bows, arrows, 
clubs and tomahawks, prepared to attack them, some in canoes and 
others on shore. Father Marquette in vain presented his peace-pipe, 
they were ready to attack. Finally the elders, seeing the calumet, 
commanded the young warriors to stop, and laying their arms on the 
ground as a sign of peace, entered the canoes and made the strangers 
land, though much against their will. As the savages were not 
acquainted with any of the six Indian languages spoken by Father 
Marquette, he spoke to them in signs until an old man was found 
who could understand the tongue of the Illinois. Through this 
interpreter, the good father told the savages that he was going to the 
sea, and gave them some religious instruction. 

The next morning the travelers took their canoes again, and 
sailed down the stream. About two miles farth3r on, they were met 
by two canoes of Indians, who conducted them on shore, where they 
were kindly received. Here they found a young warrior who knew 
the Illinois language, and through him Father Marquette told the 
natives that he was going to the sea, and made them the usual 



THE NEW DLSCOVEKY OF THE MLSSISSIPPI. 177 

presents. They told hiin that the sea was five days' journey further, 
that they knew nothing of the inhabitants on its borders as tliey 
were prevented by their enemies — the armed Indians the explorers 
had just left — from seeing the white men who lived there. They 
told him that their enemies sailed the river and were very cruel to 
their captives. 

Father Marquette and Joliet now began to consider what further 
course they should pursue. They had become sure that the river 
emptied into the Gulf of Mexico, so that now the object of their voy- 
age was really accomplished. And they also knew that if there were 
any white settlers on the shores of the gulf, as the Indians had sup- 
posed, these must be Spaniards, who would resent any exploration 
of their territory by the French. So they determined to go no 
farther south, and, after resting a day, they prepared to go back to 
New France. 

They had spent a month in sailing down the river and now, on 
the 17th of July, they set out on their return. They slowly ascended 
the stream, until they reached the mouth of the Illinois river. They 
then sailed up this river, thus shortening their journey many miles, 
as it brought them within a few days' travel of Lake Michigan. On 
the banks of the river they found a village, the inhabitants of which 
received them kindly, and begged the good father to return to them, 
which he promised to do. One of the chiefs guided him to the lake 
and then the party sailed to Green Bay, arriving there near the end 
of September. 

Soon after, the good father went back to the Indians on the 
Illinois as he had promised, and took up his life as a missionary 
among them, staying there more than a year. Then he started 
northward to visit the Green Bay mission. While passing along the 
eastern shore of Lake Michigan he entered a small river on the 18th 
of May, 1G75. Landing, he made a rude altar, said mass, and then 
retired a short distance into the woods to pray. As time passed and 
he did not return, his men went to look for him, and found him on 
his knees, dead. Thus, in prayer the soul of the good ftither went to 
the great all- Father in heaven, whom he had taught the savages to 
love. 




THE TRIALS OF THE CHEVALIER LA SALLE. 

1667—1684. 

'HE French, like all the other early explorers, believed that 
they could find a way through the continent to the south 
sea, and when the Indians told them of a great river in 
the west, their first thought was that this was the long- 
desired highway to the Indies. One of the men who 
started out to seek for this impossibility was the Che- 
valier La Salle, one of the bravest, most heroic men that 
ever lived. 

La Salle came to New France to seek his fortune in 1667. He 
first engaged in the fur trade, and secured from the government a 
grant of exclusive traffic with the Five Nations, the Indian tribes 
that then lived in New York. He then obtained a grant of land a 
few miles above Montreal where he marked out a village and built a 
house and a small fort. But as he came to learn more of the country 
and heard the Indians speak of the great western river, he sold most 
of his rights and bought supplies for an exploring expedition. Then 
he started for the Ohio river with a party of Indians and Frenchmen, 
but all except one had deserted him before he reached the river. He 
went down the stream to the falls at Louisville and then his guide 
left him also, and he made his way back over the country alone. 
The next year he visited Lake Michigan, and what he learned from 
the Indians this time made him sure that the great river of the west 
did not flow to the Pacific, but to the Gulf of Mexico. He had 
studied closely all the imperfect maps of the New World, that had 
been made by the Spaniards and others, and he had a j)artial idea of 
the geography of the interior country. Then he made a grand plan 
and never let go of it, no matter what dreadful discouragements and 
difficulties came in his way. This was to make a thorough explora- 
tion of the Mississippi river, and build a chain of forts from the lakes 

178 



THE TRIALS OF THE CHEVALIER LA SALLE. 179 

to the gulf. At the mouth of the Mississippi there should be a large 
fort, which should be the key to the continent, and keep the river 
open to the navies of France alone. In 1672 the Count de Frontenac 
became governor of New France. He was bold and ambitious and 
very ready to take up with the plan of La Salle. He had a fort 
built called Fort Frontenac, where the town of Kingston now stands. 
This was the first of the line of forts that were planned to command 
the whole interior of the country. 

In 1673 the return of Joliet from the Mississippi stimulated the 
ardor of Frontenac and La Salle, and the latter sailed for France 
early in the following year. He saw the king and from him secured 
the privilege of building forts — as his own expense — for the French 
government. 

Coming back. La Salle had Fort Frontenac rebuilt of stone, and 
then devoted himself to the acquisition of wealth through the fur 
trade, in order to use it all in carrying out his great plan. He visited 
France again in 1677, but did not get much from the king, who, like 
scores of other potentates, wanted all the glory he could get, but did 
not want to pay anything for it. But La Salle gained one thing on 
this trip that proved of the greatest value to him. This was a good 
and faithful friend, M. Tonty, a gentleman of noble family, who came 
back to Canada with him and gave all of his large private means to 
aid this great project of La Salle's, which was destined to have such 
a sorrowful ending. 

When these two gentlemen got back to Canada it was in the 
dead of winter, but the restless La Salle could not wait to begin his 
work. He sent one of his aids and a priest, P'ather Hennepin, with 
sixteen men, across Lake Erie, to begin a fortification at the mouth of 
the Niagara river. They had to thaw the ground with hot water to 
lay their foundations. The Iroquois Indians did not like this at all, 
but when La Salle came soon after, bringing them presents, and 
speaking kindly to them, they agreed not to interfere with him. 

La Salle had many enemies who were jealous of him, because he 
was so brave and could do so much, and they did liim many injuries. 
When he had built his fort on the Niagara river he began to build a 
vessel too. He went back to Fort Frontenac, and bought a shipload 
of the things needed in making the vessel, and food for the workmen. 



180 



STOKIES OF THE THKEE AMERICAS. 



but his enemies bribed the pilot of the vessel carrying these things, 
and he ran it ashore on the rocks. La Salle, hearing of this, hurried 
to the spot, and saved what he could, and then had a part of the 
needed supplies carried to the mouth of the Niagara river by natives. 
Then the Indians got angry at his men and would not supply them 
with corn, and La Salle, leaving his good friend Tonty to oversee the 
work, started on foot for Fort Frontenac, a distance of two hundred 
and fifty miles, with two companions only, and no food except 
some parched corn. The way lay through swamps and pathless for- 




LA SALLE'S VOYAGE DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI. 



ests, but this did not in the least daunt La Salle's mighty courage. 
But when he reached the fort, and found that his enemies had spread 
the story that he had gone on a wild-goose chase, and that, therefore, 
all his property had been seized by his creditors, he was sick at 
heart. He had to go to each of his friends and explain his case 
fully, and could not get back to Fort Niagara until August. There 
he found that Tonty had had the ship completed, and it set sail, 
August 7, 1679. La Salle went with it up Lake Huron, and procured 
a cargo of furs, but as the Indians were threatening and hostile, he 
sent the vessel with one of his men to Montreal, giving him orders to 
bring back such supplies as were needed. It did not come back as 
soon as he expected, and as he wished to get to the Illinois river as 



THE TRIALS OF THE CHEVALIER LA SALLE. 181 

soon as he could, he pushed across the country, hiring some Indians to 
go with him and carry their canoes on their backs, and sent some men 
to look for his ship. When, after great hardships, he had reached 
the country of the Illinois Indians, these men rejoined him with 
Wv^rd that his ship had run on the rocks and been utterly wrecked, 
and all its cargo lost. There was good reason to believe that this 
accident also had been caused by the chevalier's heartless enemies. 

Did La Salle give up now? No, indeed. He built a fort 
which he called Fort Crevecoear, or " Broken hearted," on the banks 
of the Illinois river, near where the city of Peoria now stands, 
and began to build a ship there also. But there were many 
things needed for the construction of the vessel, and money and 
trinkets were necessary to pay the Indians who brought food to his 
men, so La Salle started to go back to Montreal on foot, a distance of 
twelve hundred miles. He had five men with him and two of these 
deserted him before he had gone half of his journey. It was a 
terrible march, through a country abounding in savages, with scant 
food or none, watching by night and marching by day, swimming 
wide rivers, struggling through forests, until after sixty-five days of 
sujSering, they reached Port Frontenac. La Salle got together what 
supplies he could and was about to start back when he received a 
letter from Tonty sent by a messenger, telling him that the men he 
had left at Fort Crevecceur had mutinied and had blown up the fort, 
and stolen or destroyed everything in it. The mutineers, the mes- 
senger said, were now on their way to Montreal. La Salle got some 
men to aid him and they went to meet these men, hanged the ring- 
leader of them, and brought the others back and put them in prison. 

Now you are sure that La Salle gave up, are you not ? No 
indeed! for his will was made of iron. Restarted immediately for 
the Illinois country. When he reached there he found that the 
Illinois and Iroquois Indians had had a great battle, and the 
Illinois had been beaten and all their villages burned and destroyed. 
And he could not find his good friend Tonty anywhere, or hear any 
word from him. He went in a canoe down the Illinois river, to the 
Mississippi. At last he had reached the great river that he had so long- 
ed to see, but he did not take much interest in it now, he was so anxious 
because he had lost his good friend. In great perplexity and anxiety 



182 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

he went back to Canada, and because he must be working for some- 
thing, decided to return to the Illinois country, and establish fur 
trading posts. On his way back, he met Tonty at Michili- 
mackinac. 

Where had Tonty been all this time ? He had lived with the 
Illinois, after the destruction of the fort, and when the Iroquois 
came against them he tried to make peace. The Iroquois chief told 
him that they would not do him any harm, but he must go away to 
be safe. So he went to the mission at Green Bay. Great was the 
joy of the two friends at meeting. They immediately went back to 
the Illinois country, went down the Illinois river in canoes, reached 
the Mississippi, floated down the great river itself, and, April 6, 1680, 
reached the delta, and rowed out into the gulf. Here La Salle landed 
and took possession of the country, in the usual fashion, in the 
name of France, and called it Louisiana. 

Was not La Salle's great work now done ? No, he thought it 
was just begun, but his naturally strong frame began to feel the 
effect of the terrible hardships that he had endured, and on his wuy 
up the river he was very ill of a fever for many weeks. But as soon 
as he was well enough, he was once more ready to carry out his 
plans. His purpose now was to form a league of all the Indian 
tribes on the great river and make treaties of friendship with them in 
the name of France, thus securing their aid in establishing French 
government in the western country. 

But La Salle's enemies, finding that he was as active as ever, 
in spite of all the injuries that had been inflicted upon him, were 
determined to thwart him, and they told the new governor of Canada, 
M. Le Barre — Frontenac having been recalled — that he was trying to 
set up a new kingdom among the Indians, and make himself ruler of 
it. So the governor would not pay any attention to the letters that 
La Salle wrote to him, asking him to send out money and supplies. 
And he sent word to the French king that L:i Salle was a bad man, 
wanting to enrich himself at the expense of the government. And 
thus it happened that when La Salle wrote to the king of France, he 
did not make any reply either. So at last La Salle could not stand 
this treatment any longer, and he himself went to France, saw 
the king, and thus secured the help and favor that he desired. 




THE FATE OF LA SALLE'S COLONY. 

1684—1687. 

^OU know that I told you how La Salle, who had toiled 
and suffered 80 much to extend the domain of New 
France, at last obtained from the French king ships and 
money to carry a colony to the shores of the Mississippi. 
La Salle only asked for one ship, the king gave him 
four. The men who were sent out as colonists with him, 
however, were not of the sort to be of much help to him, 
for after a plan very common at that time, criminals of various 
grades were let off from their punishments, on their agreeing to go 
out and aid in building up the far away colonies of the New World. 
But this colony of La Salle's was so entirely the victim of misfortune, 
that it is hard to know whether it would have suffered any less had 
it been composed of better men. 

In August, 1684, the little fleet cast anchor in the Gulf of 
Mexico. They entered it from the southwest and sailed on until 
they came in sight of land. A fatal mistake was made here, by 
La Salle, which finally cost his life and that of his entire colony. 
He had reached the coast west of the mouth of the Mississippi and 
yet kept on sailing farther west, looking for it, unconscious that he 
had passed it. He sent some men on shore to look for the river, but 
these, too, were sent westward, and the ships followed them along 
the coast. At last they reached Matagorda Bay, which La Salle 
mistook for the mouth of the Mississippi. He ordered the ships to 
enter the harbor, and himself went ashore in a small boat. Here he 
met the detachment of men that he had sent to look for the river, 
who were cutting down trees to make a raft to cross the bay 
when the ships came in sight. As the chevalier stood talking to his 
men, he saw one of the smaller of the ships, the Aimable, enter the 
bay. Just at that moment, some of his men came running up, say- 

183 



184 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

ing that the Indians had come up with them where they were 
cutting down trees and had carried off one of their number. La 
Salle ordered them to run after the Indians as fast as they could. 
They did so and overtook the savages at no great distance. La Salle 
had come up with them and a parley was going on when the loud 
boom of a gun was heard. The Indians all fell to the ground in 
terror, but an even more deadly fear, we may suppose, chilled the 
strong heart of La Salle. He knew that the report was a signal of 
distress, and that the Aimable, the vessel that contained all the stores 
and the utensils for the colony, had struck upon a reef. La Salle 
hastened back to the shore to aid in saving all that was possible. 
The small boat of the ship was found to be broken, and time was 
lost in getting a boat from one of the other ships. Some gunpowder 
and flour was saved at first, and then a high wind arose and the 
vessel was beaten by the breakers on the rocks, and it was with the 
utmost difficulty that even part of the supplies were taken off. 

Even La Salle's strong courage was depressed by this accident. 
The colonists landed one by one, and were encamped, a wretched 
company, behind a rough pile of boxes, bales and driftwood. There 
was no doubting the hostile spirit of the Indians. These had proba- 
bly heard of the wrongs that had been committed by the Span- 
iards against other tribes of their race. They plundered the camp, 
fired the woods, and even killed two men. The colonists were nearly 
all sick, several of them dying every day. The captain of the vessel 
that brought them over the seas considered his duty done when he 
had landed them, and, caring nothing for their fate, he sailed away. 
He left behind, however, one of the smaller vessels, the Belle. Poor 
La Salle thought that the sorest trial of the situation lay in the fact 
that he did not know where he was. He was soon convinced that he 
was not at the mouth of the Mississippi, but he thought that he 
would take the small vessel and go on and find it. Why he did not 
embark on her and explore the coast of the gulf both west and east 
we cannot say, it was very unfortunate that he did not. He started 
out on a journey of exploration along the land, ordering the vessel to 
follow by the coast. This was in October, 1685. After some weeks the 
land company lost sight of the vessel. Men were sent to search for 
her, and La Salle and the others pressed on. These men came 



THE FATE OF LA SALLE'S COLONY. 185 

back and brought no tidings. Then others were sent out and yet a 
third time others. It was not until after La Salle had returned to the 
fort on Matagorda Bay that the last of these detachments came back. 
This brought sad tidings that the pilot of the Belle had gone ashore 
and had been killed by the Indians, and that the sailors, ignorant of 
the management of the vessel, had allowed it to run upon the rocks, 
and before long there was nothing left of it but a mass of broken 
timbers. 

In all his story of misfortunes La Salle never met with a disas- 
ter as irretrievable as this. With the loss of this vessel, was lost the 
only means of returning to France, or of planting a colony on the 
Mississippi. It did not seem to be any use to search any longer for 
the river, as even if it were found the colony could never get there. 
At this sad point, La Salle again broke down and had another long 
attack of fever. 

His unconquerable purpose, however, would not yield even to 
physical weakness. As soon as he had recovered from the fever, he 
made his plan. He determined to make his way to the Mississippi, 
force his canoe upward against its current to the Illinois, and go up 
that river and over the familiar country that he had several times 
traversed to Canada, and thence to France for future aid. It was a 
daring plan, but had it not been for the fate which thwarted poor 
La Salle at every step of his heroic career he might have carried it 
out. One April day, after mass and prayer, a little band of men, 
with hatchets, kettles, guns, corn and presents for the Indians, 
strapped to their backs, set out over the prairie. Only La Salle 
knew the extent of the journey they were beginning and he kept the 
secret locked in his own breast. Had he told the men, not one 
of them would have consented to go with him. The colony was left 
in charge of a man named Jontel. This trusty assistant, perhaps, 
was the only one at the fort who fully understood the hopeless con- 
dition of the colonists, and how doubtful it was whether La Salle 
would ever return to them. He did his duty, however, and kept 
order in the colony, insisted that every one should work during the 
day and encouraged them to dance and sing in the evening, to keep 
them from growing discontented and unhappy. 

Months dragged away thus. Then one night there was a knock- 



186 



STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 



ing at the gate of the fort. It was opened, and there was La Salle, 
worn and ill, having with him only eight of the twenty men he had 
taken with him. All the others had perished on the prairie. La 
vSalle had been ill for two months, during which time the others 
could not go on. The great river had not been found, and the 




THK MURDER OF LA SALLE. 



exploring band had been driven to return, because they had ex- 
hausted their ammunition and their food. 

There were at this time only forty-five colonists left in the fort. 
They were very discontented and murmured loudly against La Salle. 
Again the explorer laid his plans to go in search of the great river. 
But he had another long fit of sickness, and it was in January, 1687, 
before he was ready to start out again. This time he took Jontel to 



THE FATE OF LA SALLE S COLONY. 187 

help him. He made a farewell address to the colonists in an unusu- 
ally kind, winning and hopeful manner. But there were^ some of 
the men who heard him who seemed to have been transformed by- 
disappointment and disaster into brute beasts. Among those who 
went with him were some of the worst of these. One night, some of 
them had been sent hunting and with them was a nephew of La Salle. 
A plot was formed among the others, and this nephew and two 
Indian friends with him were murdered. La Salle, the next morn- 
ing, went in search of these men, and they, hiding in the long grass, 
shot him as he approached. Thus perished a man who in the whole 
h' story of the exploration of the New World was never equalled in 
patience, valor and daring. 

After the murders, Jontel, and two companions, were allowed 
to depart on giving the murderers certificates of their innocence of 
crime. They then pushed on, and after a toilsome march reached 
the Mississippi, the stream that La Salle had searched for vainly, for 
so long. They ascended it to Fort St. Louis, where the brave Tonty 
was still stationed, and thence went to Canada and on to France, as 
La Salle had planned to do. They learned that as soon as Tonty 
had heard through letters from France that La Salle had landed on 
the shores of the gulf he hastened down the river to meet him, and 
explored the country for sixty miles from the mouth of the Missis- 
sippi. One of the saddest parts of the sad story is the fact that thus 
succor came so near La Salle, and he did not know it. Tonty went 
back to St. Louis and stayed there some years. 

As for the poor colony on the gulf it was left to a sad fate. 
Jontel tried to induce Louis XIV to send a vessel for the colonists, 
but the king would not listen to him at all. It was not till several 
years after, that a Spanish ship, guided by one of the wicked men 
who had deserted La Salle, went to the spot where the colony had 
been, intending to destroy it. But they found nothing there but 
silence and desolation. The palisade had fallen to pieces. The 
cannon was in the mire, skulls and human skeletons lay all about. 
The fierce Spaniards who had come on an errand of death, were 
awed by the sight of it, and moved away. Afterward they met two 
men who had belonged to the colony and were living with the 
Indians. These said that the colony had nearly all died of small- 
pox, and the few left had been murdered by the Indians. 




THE QUAKERS AND WILLIAM PENN. 

1674—1682. 

N THE early part of the seventeenth century a new sect of 
persons arose in England who were called Quakers- 
They had many strange beliefs and customs, and as in those 
days people bad not learned that all men cannot and will 
not think alike on the subject of religion, they were much 
persecuted, were imprisoned, fined, and ill-treated in vari- 
ous ways. So, like the Puritans, the Quakers began 
to look toward the New World, and to wonder whether they could 
not find there liberty to think, act and dress as they desired. 
A few of them went over to join the Pilgrims colonies in New Eng- 
land. But the Puritans, though they wanted freedom of thought 
for themselves, did not like the idea of sharing it with every one else. 
They were sure that their belief was just right, and they wished 
every one who lived with them to agree to it. If any person refused 
to do this, he must go away, or he would be punished for his stub- 
bornness. When the Quakers came, they were ordered to go away 
again immediately, and because they did not obey, they were 
imprisoned, whipped and some of them were put to death. But a 
refuge was at last found for these people, in the New World by a 
good man named William Penn. 

This man was the oldest son of Sir William Penn, vice admiral 
in the British navy, and was born in London in 1644. At the age 
of twelve he went to Oxford where, as he was a very bright boy, he 
bade fair to realize his father's proudest wishes, when one day he 
went with a number of young friends to listen to what they consid- 
ered the wild ravings of a poor Quaker. 

The sensitive nature of Penn was struck with something in the 
new faith and he became a convert. For this he was expelled from 

188 



THE QUAKERS AND WILLIAM PENN. 189 

the college and soon appeared before his disappointed father in the 
long gray coat and wide hat of the sect, announcing his intention of 
devoting his life to advancing his faith. The old man was keenly 
disappointed, for he had intended his son for a soldier, which his 
new religion forbade. It is said that at first the young man was 
turned out of doors, but even if this is true he soon came back again 
and the old man forgave him, though repeatedly provoked to anger 
by the strange manners of his son. These seemed to the father very 
disrespectful, for the young man refused to lift his hat even to the 
king and persisted in calling his father William. At last the old 
man died and left all his property to the young Quaker, whom he 
still loved in spite of all their differences. 

In the meantime young William Penn had other troubles 
besides the anger of his father. While in Ireland at one time on busi- 
ness for his family he was arrested and put in prison for attendance at 
a Quaker meeting. He soon after returned to England where, on 
account of the king's regard for Vice Admiral Penn, the young man 
might have escaped further persecutions had he been content to 
hold his views quietly ; but he thought it his duty to publish them 
and for this reason was imprisoned in the London Tower where, as 
he could not speak, he wrote with great industry. 

He was finally released through the intluence of the Duke of 
York, who had been a dear friend to Penn's father, but he did not 
stay out of prison long. He was soon after called to some trial, and 
as was the Quaker custom he refused to take the oath. For this he 
was put in Newgate prison for six months. He wrote here, as in the 
Tower, and made many plans. 

I think by this time the peaceful Friend had grown rather tired 
of prisons and he began to look about, as the Pilgrims had done, for 
a place of safety and freedom. He had already been twice to Europe 
and found but little friendship for his religion there and he had 
heard of the great cruelty of the New England colonies toward his 
people. 

He was nearly the wealthiest and quite the most influential 
among the Friends, and felt it was his duty in some way to provide 
a refuge for them. Vice Admiral Penn had been a good friend to 
the old king and had lent to the crown from time to time large sums 



190 



STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 



of money, so now the amount due to the Penn estate was over 
£16,000. Penn asked that instead of this money the king 
would give him land in America. This the monarch was very ready 
to do, as he was a great spendthrift and found -land much more 
plentiful than money. 

So for this £16,000 a vast tract of land was given to Penn, 
over which he was to have entire control, making such laws as he 
pleased. His first act was to offer to sell this land at the rate of 
twenty pounds for one thousand acres or to rent it at one penny an 

acre. He also promised in 
this new country freedom 
and the right of citizenship 
to all who believed in the 
Lord Jesus Christ and for- 
bade that any should suffer 
for their faith. Many peo- 
ple of all kinds hastened to 
buy the land thus offered 
and that same fall three 
ships set sail for the Qua- 
ker's land. Sylvania, Penn 
called it, because it was cov- 
ered with trees, but the king 
called it Penn's Sylvania be- 
cause the trees belonged to 
Penn. So it was named, 
though William Penn offer- 
ed the king's secretar}^ twenty guineas if he would erase the first 
part of the name from the chart ; but what the king had written 
he had written, and Pennsylvania it remains to this day. 

It was against the religion of the Quakers to engage in any war, 
and Penn was particularly anxious to be at peace with the Indians. 
He believed that the red men, like other people, could be won by 
honest and kindly dealings, so he determined to try that plan. 

When the first settlers went over to his new land, he sent by 
tb'^m *» letter to the Indians, promising peace and fair dealing, and 




WILLIAM PENN. 



THE QUAKERS AND WILLIAM PENN. 191 

when he hiuidelf came over the next year he asked all the chiefs to 
meet him under a large forest tree. 

There he spoke such words of kindness and love that the wild 
savages' hearts were touched. " We will live in love and peace with 
Penn and his children so long as the sun and moon shall shine," 
said they. They did not swear to this treaty, for that was not the 
way of these honest Friends, but they kept it, which was far better. 
As the, histories put it: "This was the only treaty never sworn to 
and never broken," and they tell it truly. In all their bitter wars 
against the whites no Indian ever shed a drop of Quaker blood. 
Some said a long gray coat and a wide hat was a better protection 
than a coat of mail and a musket. But it was not the coat but the 
friendly heart under it that the Indian respected. 

In the second year of his colony the Quaker king, as Penn was 
often called, planned to build his capital. He said it should be a 
city of peace and so he called it Philadelphia, which means Lrotherly 
love. This city was a great success. In 1683 the squirrels burrowed 
in the ground and the wild animals roved under the trees, where in 
1685 there stood six hundred houses. 

Fair dealings and kind words were the strongest power, as Penn 
had reason to believe, for without fort, policeman or soldier, his peo- 
ple came and went in safety. And though there was no rank nor 
preferences on account of wealth or religion, the people had grown 
strong and no one had complained except a very few, and to these 
the kind governor had given their independence. These were the 
settlers in the lower counties of the Delaware. 

There was now a change in the English government and the 
Stuart kings who had been so kind to Penn and his father were 
driven from the throne. The honest hearted Quaker pretended no 
joy at the arrival of the new king, and being accused of disloyalty, 
was removed from his office as governor. But regret for an old 
friend could hardly be called treason and he was soon allowed to 
return to his colony. 

He did not stay long, however, as he heard that the officers of the 
new king thought they could better matters in the colonies by giving 
them new laws and new rulers. Penn thought that by showing how 



192 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

prosperous the colonies had grown without any interference, he 
might induce the king to let them alone. 

Penn never saw his colony after this farewell. He left the gov- 
ernment of the colony in the hands of one man and chose another to 
attend to the business of his estate. This last man was not honest, 
and mismanaged the afifairs so as to bring the property into debt and 
then threw all the blame on Penn and ran away. 

The good old Quaker was then put in prison where he spent 
many weary months, but at last the lawyers, after much fussing, 
succeeded in mending his affairs. He was freed and a prosperous 
old age was assured him, but he was tired of the work and hardship 
of the world. 

He had done a good work and now it was time for his rest. So 
he went to it in the summer of 1718 at the age of seventy- four, and 
after that the Quaker colony was governed by strangers. 



THE INDIANS AND THE EARLY COLONISTS. 




OU cannot in any way imagine ,vhat it would be to live 
your daily life in constant fear of some dreadful enemy. 



This was the case of the early settlers of New England. 
All around them in the woods lurked the savage red men 
and when the farmer left his house in the morning he 
felt no surety but that at noon he might find only its 
smoking ashes, and the wife watching her husband on 
his way to his work, did not know but that all she would ever see of 
him again would be a scalp dangling from some savage's belt. 

This dreadful uncertainty was because of the deadly hatred of 
the Indian, which came about, how? Because of their naturally 
savage nature, some tell us. Perhaps so, but there is a good deal to 
be said on the Indian side of the question. You know the Indians 
had lived in this land a great many hundred years. It was their 
land, where their fathers had lived and died. They did not fence off 
farms, but they had their little patches of corn, hunted the wild 
animals, and were happy in their savage way, when one day strange 
people appeared on their shore. At first, the Indians thought from 
their clear, white skin, beautiful garments and natural powers, that 
they were gods, but no, the white men said, they were not such, nor 
even angels, but messengers come to tell of the true God. These 
strangers taught a beautiful religion of peace, but brought with them 
new and horrible instruments of war. They told the Indians of a 
tender and loving One who suffered all things, even to a cruel death, 
and then, did a poor untaught savage but meddle with or take some 
little toy, his right hand was cut off in punishment. 

They said in this new religion that all men were brethren, and 
then of their brother Indians they made slaves,stealing them from their 
homes, and beating and starving them cruelly. " It was," said one 

103 



194 



STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 



historian," as if they had come to teach the poor Indians of the 
glory of heaven and then hasten them away to enjoy its splendors." 

At first the Indians received the white men kindly and seemed 
inclined to accept such a beautiful religion, but' when they saw 
how the actions of these Christians differed from their teachings 
they became angry, and under the cruel Spanish rule their anger 
grew to deadly hatred. '" Do not trust the white man nor let him 
land upon your shores," was the message sent from one tribe to 
another; " He comes with words of peace upon his lips but a lie in his 
heart. He call us brethren but steals our wives and children to 

be his slaves, he tells us 
of a happy home in heav- 
en but takes from us our 
lands on earth." 

So the message went 
from tribe to tribe until 
nt last the Indians who 
at first met the white 
man on the shore with 
kindly gifts and gestures, 
now hailed him with 
showers of arrows or 
skulked away into the woods to plan some better way to drive him 
from their lands. 

This was the state of affairs when the first Englishman landed 
in America. These, in almost every case but that of William Penn , of 
whom I have told you, came prepared to meet like with like. They 
usually demanded peace but they brought great stores of gunpowder 
with which to keep it, and built forts in which to enjoy it, so the 
peace was what they might have expected. The Indians, not 
understanding a friendship sworn amid such preparations of hostil- 
ity, thought the white man was deceiving them, and made what 
they considered equivalent preparations for war. 

" We will be friends," said the Puritan, making high walls about 
his fort, and mounting on them cannon. 

" Yes, we will be friends," said the Indians, dipping the points 
of their arrows in rattlesnake's poison. 




TRADING WITH THE INDIANS. 



THE INDIANS AND THE EARLY COLONISTS 



195 



" We are the best of friends," said the Puritan, on tne way to 
church, musket in hand. 

" The very best," said the Indian, hiding his bow and arrow 
under his blanket. 

"We will always deal fairly with the Indian," said all the 
white men, stealing 
the Indian's land, 
without offering 
any equivalent. 



es. 



fairly 



said the chiefs, 
Bmoking the pipe of 
peace, while his 
warriors were put- 
ting on the war 
paint. 

" We desire 
only the highest 
good for the poor 



savage, 



said the 




white man, selling 
them whiskey and 
rum. 

"The very high- 
est," said the Indi- 
ans, ending the 
white man's troub- 
les with the toma- 
hawk. So it went, 
and what more 
could be expected ? 
Who could teach n. 
religion of peace at 
the cannon mouth? 

The Englishman called the Indian treacherous but I doubt if he 
was more so than he took the white man to be. 

Who likes to take a dare ? And that was just what the muskets 
of the white man seemed to the warlike Indian. 



IGHTING THE INDIANS. 



196 STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 

So from day to day the hatred between the Indian and the 
white man grew. The EngHsh built all their houses together in a 
village around which a wall was made. The farms lay outside the 
village and the farmers went to and from their work musket in hand. 
On Sunday each man carried his musket to church and they were 
all stacked in the meeting house door where a sentinel stood to give 
the alarm, should any Indians approach. 

Many horrible wars occurred between the Englishmen and the 
Indians, but I cannot recall an instance where an unarmed man 
went in among the Indians where he was not kindly received. The 
peace that reigned on the Maryland plantations, and in the Quaker 
settlement of Pennsylvania, and even more noticeably in the French 
colonies of Canada, might make us question whether there was not 
a better way. But if there was, the other colonists did not find it, 
and it was not until the Indians had been killed or driven from 
their borders that they were sure of peace. 




THE COLONIES OF CALVERT AND OF OGLETHORPE. 

1629—1633. 1728—1743. 

T WAS but natural, as the people of the Old World began to 
learn what a beautiful, fertile country the new continent 
was, that they should look to it with much hope, that on 
its shores all the wrongs and injustice of the older countries 
might be righted. Here, they thought, all oppressed peo- 
ple may find freedom, all poor persons may have room 
and opportunity to gain wealth. And though it was a 
long time before the new country fulfilled all these beautiful hopes, 
still it soon became plain that they were built on a sure foundation. 
You know how the Puritans came to the new land to escape 
persecution, and the Quakers came for the same purpose. The peo- 
ple of the English church, — who had themselves borne no little per- 
secution at the hands of the Catholics in the reign of Queen Mary, 
the eldest daughter of King Henry VIII, — when they were them- 
selves in full power, having the government and most of the wealth 
of the country on their side, retaliated by punishing Catholics, Puri- 
tans, Quakers and all others who did not fully agree with them in 
matters of belief. 

There was, during the reign of King James I, a nobleman at 
court who was so wise and good that the king and all the courtiers 
held him in high esteem. His name was Sir George Calvert, and he 
was one of the king's secretaries of state. He was so good a man, so 
upright and so kind, that when he professed himself a convert to the 
Catholic faith and offered to resign his office, the king would not let 
him go. " Na, na," he said, with his broad Scotch speech, — "gang he 
to kirk or cathedral, we maun keep Georgie." He was retained as a 
member of the king^s council, and a short time before King James 
died, in 1625, he was made lord of Baltimore. 

But he laws of England at this time bore very hardly upon 

197 



198 



STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 



Catholics, denying them many privileges and opportunities. Sir 
George Calvert did not approve of these unjust laws ; and he resolved 
to use some of his wealth in founding a colony in the New World 
where not only could the oppressed Catholics find a refuge, but peo- 
ple of every faith might enjoy entire liberty of conscience. 

His first attempt at colonizing was not successful. He had 
bought a large tract of land in Newfoundland which he called 

Avalon. Here he had 
built several large 
warehouses and a 
mansion for his family 
at great expense, and 
in 1629 he took his 
wife and children and 
went out there with a 
number of other fam- 
ilies to live. But he 
found the country very 
unsuited for a colony ; 
the winters were long 
and bitterly cold, and 
no profitable industry 
but fishing was possi- 
ble there. Besides, the 
cheerless and desolate 
island was not even a 
certain possession, for 
it was claimed by the 
French, whose ships 
cruised around the coast and captured the English fishing boats. 
So Lord Baltimore decided to leave Newfoundland and went to 
visit Virginia. He wished to take his colony there and asked of 
the assembly the privilege of purchasing part of its territory 
for settlement. This body consented on condition that he and all 
his colonists should take the oath of allegiance, but this oath required 
persons to claim adhesion to the church of England, and an honest 
Catholic could not take it. Lord Baltimore pleaded for toleration, 




SIR GEORGE CALVERT 



THE COLONIES OF CALVERT AND OF OGLETHORPE. 199 

but the assembly refused to grant his request. He then went back 
to England and asked King Charles to give him a grant of land on 
Chesapeake Bay in the country north of Virginia, and the king, who 
knew and admired him, readily consented. By the king's wish the 
country was named Maryland, from the queen, Henrietta Maria. 

The charter of the colony was drawn up by Lord Baltimore. It was 
very liberal ; all persons were to have perfect freedom of conscience. 
Christianity was declared to be the religion of the state but no pref- 
erence was given to the followers of any creed. Free trade was 
declared to be the law of the province, and arbitrary taxation was 
forbidden. The people were empowered to make their own laws, 
but every governor was to take this oath : " I will not, by myself or 
any other, directly or indirectly, molest any person professing to 
believe in Jesus Christ, for or in respect of religion.'' 

This good man died before his colony was taken out, but his 
son. Sir Cecil Calvert, who was, like him, wise and good, immediately 
undertook to carry out his father's plans. When it was known what 
liberal laws were to be made in the new colony many persons were 
eager to join it. Two ships, a large one called the Ark, and a small 
one called the Dove, set sail in November, 1633, with 300 persons, for 
the new settlement. 

They took the long passage around by the Canary Islands, and 
did not reach Chesapeake Bay until the following March. The 
colonists were delighted with the beautiful country. They landed on 
a small island in the Potomac river, nearly opposite where Mt. 
Vernon now is, and planted a cross there, claiming the country for 
Christianity and in the name of the English king. Then they sailed 
up a wide river flowing from the north, which they called St. Mary's 
river. About twelve miles from where this river flows into the 
Potomac they purchased an Indian town on its banks. The Indians 
said that they wished to stay till the corn was ripe and then they 
would go away. The colonists built houses and planted corn and 
made gardens. There they founded a town and called it St. Mary's. 

The second Lord Baltimore did not come to stay with his col- 
ony ; his brother, Leonard Calvert, was made its first governor. But 
Lord Baltimore always took the greatest interest in the colony. He 
helped new settlers to j(nn it, and sent out tools and books, and mis- 



200 



STORIES OF THE THREE AMERICAS. 



sionaries to teach the Indians. So the colony of Maryland — the first 
one to institute religious toleration — grew and prospered. Its people 
had no difficulties with the Indians and were contented and happy. 
There was another generous founder of a colony, that I wish to tell 
you of, though his work was not done till nearly one hundred years 
after the Maryland colony was established — not until the other colo- 
nies of the Atlantic states were thriving and prosperous. An English 

philanthropist, named 
James Oglethorpe, 
formed a plan of help- 
ing the poor people of 
England by fouLding 
for them a refuge in 
America. He especial- 
ly wished to help the 
poor debtors. By the 
laws of England a 
man who could not 
pay his debts was 
thrust into prison. 
Every year thousands 
of hard-working men, 
thr o u g h thoughtless 
conduct or misfortune, 
were imprisoned, leav- 
ing their families to 
starve while they were 
shut up and unable'to 
do any work. 

In 1728, Oglethorpe was appointed, at his own request, to look 
into the condition of the poor, to visit prisons, and institute meas- 
ures of relief. Many hundreds of these poor victims of the laws 
against debtors, were set free by him. Then he planned to do more, 
to found a colony in the New World, where these poor men could 
have opportunities to retrieve their broken fortunes. 

Oglethorpe appealed to George II for a patent. It was granted, 
and June 9, 1732, a royal charter was sent out by which all the territory 




JAMES OGLETHORPE. 



THE COLONIES OF CALVERT AND OF OGLETHORPE. 201 

between the Savannah and Altamaha rivers, westward to the Pacific 
ocean, was granted to a company for twenty-one years, "to be held 
in trust for the poor." In honor of the king, Oglethorpe called this 
land Georgia. 

Oglethorpe had been a soldier and had also held a seat in par- 
liament; he was benevolent, generous, brave and chivalrous. He 
gave all the energies of his vigorous, broad mind to building, in his 
beautiful southern territory, an asylum for the oppressed of all lands. 
He went out in November, 1732, with one hundred and twenty per- 
sons. In February, they founded the town of Savannah on a high 
bluff overlooking the river. A fair and honest treaty was made with 
the Indians, which secured peace to the young settlement. Ogle- 
thorpe stayed with his colony many years. He organized a company 
of soldiers who were found useful, as the Spaniards over the bound 
ary in Florida gave them trouble. In 1743, after the colony had 
spread over much country and had many thriving towns, Oglethorpe 
went back to England. 

When trouble began in the colonies in 1775 he refused the office 
of general commander of the British troops in America, which had 
been offered him, as he did not approve of the course of the English 
government. He lived to see the colonies free, and was well pleased, 
for be believed the English speaking settlers of the New World were 
destined to build up a great and prosperous country. He died in 
1785. 



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